


at least i've got you in my head

by hanzo_png



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: !!!!, Bartender Lance, Bisexual Lance, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gay Keith, Gen, It's kinda angsty, M/M, Photographer Keith, Pining, established relationships - Freeform, hopefully a slow burn, obviously, shallura wedding, side hidge, side shallura, some original characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-10-24 05:44:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10735341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanzo_png/pseuds/hanzo_png
Summary: Sleepovers always killed Keith, mostly because being in the same bed as Lance broke his heart every single time. But who was he to say no to his best friend? He'd do whatever he could to be this close to Lance. He was hopelessly in love with a boy he could never be with. No matter how much he pined and wanted, Keith and Lance would never be together.But Keith didn't care too much, because he'd suffer a million broken hearts just to have the opportunity to be Lance's best friends for as long as the two of them were breathing. It was painful, one of the worst pains he'd ever experienced, but he'd do it for him. Lance meant that much to him.He was just so damn in love.It broke his heart.***Keith never wants to ruin what they have by confessing his feelings. He knows that Lance couldn't possibly love him in the way he so wants to be loved.But that's okay.It'll be fine.He'll be fine.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> lowkey listened to sleepover by hayley kiyoko and wanted to write a fic so here it is
> 
>  
> 
> ALSO this is lowkey a vent fic bc I'm going thru pretty much the same thing atm and I'm emo abt it so here u go
> 
> find me on Tumblr!! keithsknife

 

The back of Keith’s fingers ever so gently brush Lance’s cheek, and feeling the warmth of his skin sends a shiver down Keith’s back. He slowly brushes Lance’s hair behind his ear, biting his lip, a flush rising to his cheeks as Lance inhales a bit sharply. Keith quickly takes his hand back, mostly afraid of waking Lance up. He turns over quickly, gently, his heart racing. He was playing with fire just being near Lance like this, why did he think touching him would be a good idea?

  Sleepovers always killed Keith, mostly because being in the same bed as Lance broke his heart every single time. But who was he to say no to his best friend? He'd do whatever he could to be this close to Lance. He was hopelessly in love with a boy he could never be with. No matter how much he pined and wanted, Keith and Lance would never be together.

  But Keith didn't care too much, because he'd suffer a million broken hearts just to have the opportunity to be Lance's best friends for as long as the two of them were breathing. It was painful, one of the worst pains he'd ever experienced, but he'd do it for him. Lance meant that much to him.

  He was just so damn in love.

  It broke his heart.

 

***

 

  Keith and Pidge sat on Pidge’s couch, mindlessly playing video games together, when Hunk walks in, carrying various baked goods from his shift at a local bakery down the street.

  “Got the leftovers,” He tells them cheerfully. “I've might've baked some cookies just before we closed so they'd still be fresh when I brought them home.”

  Pidge laughs, looking over at him. “You're gonna get in trouble for that some day,” She says as she pauses their game, sets aside the controller, and goes over to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Keith glances over and waves at Hunk, who smiles as he sets a box on the counter.

  “Hey man, what're you doing here?” Hunk asks with a smile as he goes over to Keith, giving him a quick hug. Keith smiles a little and shrugs.

  “Can't really be home right now,” He murmurs, sighing a bit. Hunk raises an eyebrow, a bit confused.

  “Is everything okay? Does Lance have a girl over or something?” He asks as he sits down, putting his arm around Pidge when she sits next to him.

  “No.” Keith scoots over to allow Pidge enough room. “I just didn't feel like being there. Pidge said I could stay the night, if that's okay with you.”

  Hunk nods quickly, smiling. “Dude, of course. I can make us all breakfast in the morning-”

  “Only if you clean up all the dishes you use. I got stuck with them all last time, asshole,” Pidge mutters with a scowl as she punches his arm. “You're not getting away with that again.”

  Hunk laughs a little, rubbing his arm. “Okay, okay,” He chuckles, rolling his eyes a bit. He settles his sight on Keith, giving him a warm smile. “But really. Our couch is always open to you, man. No problem.” He pats Keith's thigh and stands up. “C’mon, you two, I've got a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies that needs to be eaten.”

  Pidge jumps up from her seat and hurries after Hunk to start digging in, and Keith just watches them for a moment, fond. He loved those two, and they were always so supportive of him. They'd been to all of his gallery showings, and had even bought some of his photographs, which were hanging on their walls right now.

  Keith was a pretty damn decent photographer, and was pretty successful locally. He didn't mind doing portraits and weddings at the studio he worked at in the shopping district downtown, but his favorite things were landscapes, nature, candids of his friends and people he saw around town. The candids were what got the attention of most people. Those showed the beauty in the tiniest moments of average life, and Keith loved how he could immortalize those tiny moments. It was his favorite thing.

  Thinking of that, he picks his camera up off the coffee table and takes a quick picture of Hunk shoving a piece of cookie into Pidge’s mouth, making her laugh. Keith loved her laugh. Keith loved that Hunk could make her laugh like that.

  He sets the camera down again and gets up to snag a cookie from the little box on the counter. “You know,” He muses as he takes a bite. “I bet you could write a cookbook.” He nudges Hunk, who just chuckles.

  “Sure I could,” He says with a rolls of his eyes. Pidge lights up a bit.

  “No, Hunk, that'd be so cool! Come on, your stuff tastes fucking amazing. And- and Keith could take pictures of the food, and Lance, Shiro and I could be the taste testers!”

  Keith laughs a little, nudging Hunk again. “Dude, if you wanna start writing, I'd gladly take pictures of your food. Not only does it taste amazing, but it looks amazing too.”

  “You could be on, like, Chopped and shit,” Pidge agrees with a grin and a gentle smack on his chest. “Do it. And make these cookies the first recipe, because it's like a fucking foodgasm, I swear.”

  Hunk just shakes his head, laughing, amused with the two of them. “You guys are ridiculous. I don't know, I'll think about it, I guess. It might be fun.”

  “That's the spirit,” Keith says with a big smile. He finishes off his cookie, then he wipes his hands off. “C’mon Pidge, we've got a game to finish.”

  Pidge smirks as she starts walking back over to the couch. “Oh, ready to lose?” She teases, grinning at him as they both sit back down, picking up their respective controllers.

  Keith rolls his eyes, smiling a little. “At least you give me a fair chance. Whenever Lance and I get to playing something, he always lets me win. He says it's ‘cause I suck, and deserve to win sometimes.”

  “What an ass,” She chuckles. “But you do need to get better, my friend. He's not totally wrong.”

  Keith gasps and punches her arm gently. “Hey!”

  She laughs out loud, her head tilting back a bit. Hunk comes over, sitting in an arm chair next to the couch. “Aw, c’mon Pidge, don't be mean.”

  “I'm not being mean,” She says through her laughter as she rests her head on Keith's shoulder. “I'm… providing constructive criticism.”

  Keith scoffs. “Sure, sure you are, Pidge,” He mutters, nudging her off with a smirk. His phone vibrates in his pocket, and Pidge huffs.

  “We're never getting back to this race, are we?” She mutters tossing her controller back down as Keith pulls his phone out of his pocket. He ignores her in favor of his phone, where a text message from Lance lights up the screen.

   _*where are u? I brought food home and ur gone! bitch_

Keith rolls his eyes. “Sorry, Pidge. I'll just tell him I'm busy.” He starts typing.

  “Uh-huh, you better.” Pidge huffs, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling.

   _*I went to Pidge and Hunk's, sorry I didn't tell you. I'm staying over tonight, and Pidge and I are kinda busy. talk to you later_

He sets his phone down again, then smiles. “Okay, Pidge. I'm all yours.”

  

 

  Lance stares at his phone a moment before shrugging and tossing it to the side. Keith didn't stay over at Pidge and Hunk's, in fact, he didn't often leave the house besides for work, so while it was odd he'd be out, Lance supposed it was good for him. He deserved to spend some time with other people alone every now and again.

  He and Keith had been living together since college, and they'd spent pretty much every day together since then. Of course, there were the days when Lance would be gone be it at work at the bar, out with some girl he met at work, or out drinking with some of the guys, but more often than not, he'd be with Keith. He liked his best friend more than anyone, really.

  He'd admit, it felt a bit lonely without Keith here, but Lance could handle it. He never had the apartment to himself, so he gets up off the couch, abandoning the Chinese take out he'd originally gotten to share. He looks through the case of DVDs by the TV, the collection they'd accumulated over the years, and picks out a few action movies- the kind with guns and car crashes, of course -and pops the first one in the DVD player. He'd have himself a little marathon. Keith didn't like these kinds of movies anyways.

  He picks his food back up and starts the movie. Yeah, this time alone was nice. But about halfway through the first movie, he realizes it's not quite as fun without Keith complaining about the bad CGI and poor editing. He decides to finish what he started regardless, and once he's tired out, he heads off to bed.

  He hadn't realized how lonely life without Keith could be, even if it was only for a night. He wasn't very sure he liked it.

 

**********

 

  Keith comes in the next morning after breakfast with Hunk and Pidge, setting his bag down by the door after kicking his shoes off. Lance looks up from where he's sitting on the couch with his laptop. He takes his headphones off and puts them around his neck.

  “Hey. How was that big breakfast, huh?” Lance asks with a smile. Keith raises an eyebrow, smiling a little.

  “How did you know Hunk made a big breakfast?” He asks, coming over and sitting next to Lance, glancing at his laptop screen before looking into Lance's eyes. God, his eyes were fucking beautiful…

  “Please,” Lance starts with a wave is his hand. “That guy always goes all out for breakfast.” Keith laughs a little, nodding in agreement.

  “Yeah, you're right, he does,” He murmurs, relaxing into the couch, sighing. “It was amazing though. He made these, like, cinnamon roll pancakes.”

  Lance perks up, his eyes lighting up a bit at the mention of them. “What the hell? Really, you can do that?”

  “Dude, yeah. He took the stuff you put in cinnamon rolls and put it in a pancake. It was amazing. Pidge invited you over, did you get the text?” He asks, suddenly a bit worried, because Lance was usually glued to his phone.

  Lance relaxes a bit, then shrugs, picking up his phone, which he'd neglected to check that morning due some reason. Sure enough, there's Pidge’s text, along with a bunch of notifications from his various apps. “Well, shit,” He mumbles, kind of upset. “Oh well.”

  Keith chuckles, looking at him. “Were you distracted last night or something?” He asks, and Lance shrugs.

  “Nah, I was just busy. I watched a bunch of crappy movies last night, slept in, and remembered I had a shit ton of work to get in today,” He lies, trying to be nonchalant as he gets back to typing nonsense into his laptop.

  Keith doesn't look like he believes him even for a second. “You're a bartender. What the hell could you be working on here?” He asks with a little laugh, and Lance’s tan skin is suddenly tinted pink.

  “Well, you know... New drinks and stuff like that- anyways, shut up, it's none of your business.” He crosses his arms and looks away. Truth was, he was pretty bitter over the fact Keith just kind of… left him. He had every right to, of course, but he was Lance's best friend...

  Keith smiles a little bit. “Okay,” He murmurs, deciding not to press. Lance was probably covering up some hook up or something. “I've got work this afternoon.” He stands up after patting Lance’s thigh. He heads into his room to go get ready, and Lance watches him for a moment before he closes his laptop and sighs.

  He felt ridiculous about being jealous of his friends when Keith hung out with them. He needed to get over it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is kinda short oops
> 
> the next chap is gonna be a lil longer tho

Keith kneels a little as he holds up his camera, careful that his suit doesn't touch the grass below him. The last thing he needed was a grass stained suit when he had another wedding the next day. His weekend was packed, much to his bank account’s pleasure, with three different weddings. He didn't mind it much, but it was a bit exhausting trying to document every little thing, morning to night. But he understood. A wedding was a huge moment in someone's life. Little moments meant a lot in a day like this.

   Groom One walks down the aisle, grinning ear to ear as he looks ahead to his husband-to-be. Keith can't help but crack a little smile as he snaps a photo of that smile. The joy and love was just radiating off the two of them, and it made Keith's heart swell a bit. Laughter suddenly erupts from the people in the crowd when One just squeals and runs the rest of the way up the aisle, and Keith barely had time to get a quick succession of funny pictures of One practically jumping into Two’s arms. Two laughs and swings him around a bit before murmuring a soft “Fuck it” and kissing One with a smile on his lips. Keith definitely captures that. It really did make him happy to see two people so in love. 

   It… kind of hurt, at the same time. He didn't mean to sound so emotional or lame or anything, but love like that was something he felt he'd never have. He was hopelessly in love with someone he knew would never love him back. He tried to be optimistic, but Lance has made it clear the two of them wouldn't happen. The girls he went out with were like buckets of ice water being thrown in his face each time, even though it happened often. 

   He doesn't know why he's even surprised anymore. 

   He packs up at the end of the night, turning off his camera and putting it into its bag, sighing quietly. He pulls his car keys from his shoulder bag, and starts walking off the venue, but he's stopped by groom Two. Keith wishes he remembered his name. 

   “Keith, right?” Two asks, smiling warmly. “You're the photographer?”

   “Yeah, that's me. Congratulations, by the way.” He puts on a big smile, and Two just smiles sheepishly. 

   “Thank you. But my husband- God, my husband -and I just want to thank you for being here. We're really excited to see what you caught. He said I should thank you personally.”

   Keith can't help but give him a genuine smile this time. “It was a pleasure being here. I'll have your pictures ready ASAP, but it's a really busy weekend for me. I've got two more weddings to do before Monday.”

   Two winces. “Oof. Well, good luck, and thank you so much for being here.” He scoops Keith up in a hug, making Keith go a bit stiff, giving an awkward little laugh. He didn't really hug strangers, but… this was okay. 

   “My pleasure.” He pats the man on the back, and Two smiles and waves as he walks off. Keith takes a deep breath and continues the walk to his car. He was exhausted, but it was all part of the job. 

   As he's driving home in the dark, the radio silent, the only noise being the ‘whoosh’ of other cars outside his own, he can't help but think. He felt silly for thinking about it so much, but… he thinks about his wedding with Lance. It was ridiculous and incredibly far fetched, but he couldn't help it. A man could dream, couldn't he? 

   He imagines Lance and his gorgeous smile waiting for him at the end of that aisle. He imagines flowers and sunshine and light and their friends and family around them. And he imagines so much love. He imagines their kiss. He imagines the tears of pure happiness. He imagines the promise of forever- God, he sounded so cheesy. He needed to put the romance novels down. 

   Weddings, he decides, were his least favorite jobs. They made him too damn emotional. 

   So it made sense that just a few days later, a couple his best friends had set the whole group down at a nice restaurant, to tell everyone they were getting married. 

   And Lance laughs. He laughs, because what the fuck? Shiro and Allura? Sure, he knew they were dating, but he had no idea Shiro was the marrying type. 

   “You're not seriously getting married.” He smacks his hands on the table, leaning in close to Shiro, who just laughs awkwardly and shrugs. 

   “I am. Well, we are,” He murmurs, glancing at Allura, who smiles and nods. Pidge, Hunk, and Keith all just stare in shock. It's quiet between everyone before Hunk laughs

   “That's awesome!” He exclaims, patting Shiro’s back while Pidge gives Allura a big hug. Keith just murmurs a congratulations to the both of them, smiling a little. Lance lets out another laugh, shaking his head. 

   “Can't believe you guys are tying the knot. Shit.” He picks up his beer glass and takes a drink. Shiro shrugs a little, grinning. 

   “We figured it was time,” He explains as he looks adoringly at his fiancee. Hunk squeals a little bit. 

   “Seriously, this is so exciting- tell me I can make the cake, guys, seriously.” He looks at the two of them, a big grin on his face, his eyes shining. Allura and Shiro both laugh and nod. 

   “Of course, Hunk. And speaking of wedding tasks… Keith, we’d like you to be the photographer.” Keith’s head spins to look at Allura, who is smiling hopefully at him.

   Keith is a bit stunned for a moment. “Me? You guys could find someone so much better to-”

   “Keith, you're family,” Shiro tells him, voice soft and fond. “And you're amazing at what you do, and we’d love for you to do this for us.” Keith just takes this in for a moment before he smiles a little and nods. 

   “Okay. Okay, yeah, I'll do it,” He murmurs, smile widening as he nods again. Wow. He'd be taking pictures of two of his best friends’ wedding. He'd known Shiro and Allura for years, before they were even together. And now he'd be capturing all their little moments and their big ones. 

   Allura smiles excitedly. “That's fantastic!” She reaches across the table to take Keith’s hands, and Pidge smirks. 

   “Are you two gonna assign all of us different jobs?” She asks, crossing her arms, looking at the two of them. Shiro chuckles.

   “Well, we're not assigning them, more like…asking if you'll do it. Pidge, could you work music, lights, all that tech stuff?”

   Pidge scoffs, rolling her eyes towards the ceiling. “Please, I could do it in my sleep.” She suddenly leans forward, eyes narrowing at them. “Be ready for the best damn deejay-slash-light guy you've ever seen.”

   Lance raises an eyebrow. “And me?” He asks, voice a bit soft. He was a bit jealous everyone had a job except him. He wanted to be a part of this too.

   “No need to be impatient. Would you be opposed to being our bartender?” Allura asks, giving Lance a soft smile, and Lance lowkey smirks, visibly relaxing now that he was being included.

   “I tend bar for a living, of course I can do that,” He chuckles, waving his hand a bit. Hunk lets out a little whoop and nudges Lance.

   “We’re the food dudes, alright!” He cheers, and Pidge just chuckles, shaking her head fondly. Keith smiles at the two of them before turning his attention to Shiro and Allura, who are watching as their friends start to chat amongst themselves about the wedding. 

   Keith couldn't help but notice how in love those two were. It was painfully obvious to everyone, but taking a good look, it was more than just outward affection, it was a bond the two of them had, one that went further than PDA. It was the little things, like soft smiles, the looks in their eyes, the small touches they thought nobody saw. 

   Keith knew that he'd take pictures that would capture just that. 

 

 

 

   The excitement of the engagement sort of died off by the next week. Everyone had work to get back to, things to do, so they couldn't focus in it for very long. Still, Lance thought he could brush up on his fancy moves with the shakers while he was at work, so he could hella impress everyone once the wedding came around. 

   Unsurprisingly, the little flip he did with the shaker while making a martini had garnered the number of the pretty little lady he'd been serving. She'd commented on how slick he was with ‘that thing’ and they'd gotten into talking about drinks, soon after themselves, and then she'd given him her number, asking him to call her if he ever wanted to “get together sometime… even tonight would work.”

   It was an incredibly enticing offer from an equally enticing woman. Lance looks at the number written on the napkin she'd given him, trying to decide if he'd call her or not. He'd gotten a few numbers that night, as he typically did. He was a charming guy, what could he say? He almost never called any of them, though. However, he felt he deserved a little fun. He didn't go out very often, and was feeling kind of…lonely. He decides he’d call her, and pulls his phone from his pocket, sighing. 

   Distracted by dialing the number, he doesn't hear Keith come out of his room, who was awoken by Lance coming in in. It was only midnight, but Keith had an early job and had gone to bed early. Keith heads into the living room, rubbing his eyes. His hair, which was still barely in its ponytail, is tousled, the sweater he wore looking big on him- it was probably Lance's, honestly. He crosses his arms, watching. “Lance?” He whispers, and Lance jumps a little bit, almost dropping his phone. 

   “Shit, Keith,” He mutters, running a hand through his hair. “What are you still doing up?” He asks, looking at him and watching as he does and sits next to him. 

   “I just woke up, I heard you come in a little while ago. You got in kind of late.” He looks at Lance sleepily, putting his hands in the sweater pocket. Lance shrugs a little, picking up his phone again. 

   “Yeah, I know. Got caught up talking to this girl, um- Amber, is her name.” He grins and shows him the napkin with the number on it. “She was my favorite of the night.”

   Keith chuckles, shaking his head a little, looking away. “Alright, man. Was she hot?” He asks, smirking a bit. Lance grins, nodding. 

   “She really was. Almost went home with her, but I still had an hour left of my shift.” Lance sighs, shaking his head, forlorn. Keith laughs a little, nudging him. 

   “But hey, you still got her number. That's something.” He was too tired to argue with himself about his feelings for Lance right now. For now, he'd just be happy for him. 

   Lance nods a little, smiling. “I was just about to call her, actually.” He holds up his phone and shakes it a little, and Keith lets out a little ‘oh’ before he sits up a bit straighter. 

   “I'll let you get to it then. Are you gonna be back before morning? I can leave the light on.” He stands up and yawns, and Lance stands up with him. 

   “Nah, you can turn it off. I'll probably spend the night, so…” He shrugs and dials the number, and Keith nods. 

   “Okay then. I'm going back to bed. Good luck, dude.” He gently pats Lance's shoulder before he heads back to his room. He hears Lance say a bright greeting into the phone before he closes his door, not wanting to hear it. 

   While Keith knew Lance was an adult who was very capable of making his own decisions about relationships, the part of Keith that was in love with Lance wanted to scream that it wasn't right, that it wasn't okay. But it was okay. He just sighs and gets back in bed, trying to shake off the sick feeling he was getting. 

   He hears the front door close, and he huffs. Right. 

 

   Lance comes home before the sun really has a chance to rise. He'd slept for a couple hours, but he couldn't stay. It didn't feel right to stay. Something was off with him lately, and he didn't really like it. The dawn is just breaking when he very gently closes the door, quietly taking off his shoes. He glances around, and luckily, Keith is still in bed. He takes a relieved breath and heads towards his room. 

   One night stands like this didn't make him feel good, but it definitely took his mind off other things. Things he didn't exactly want to think about, especially when it concerned the best friendship he had. That was something he didn't want to jeopardize. Not when it was Keith. 

   He walks down the hall, and is a bit surprised when Keith opens his door, making them both jump before they run into each other. “Fuck-”

   “God, Lance, what the hell?” He whispers, rubbing his eyes a little. He was fully dressed, to Lance’s surprise. 

   “Where are you going? It's not even six yet.” Lance demands, looking him over. He spots the camera bag at Keith’s hip, and of course he's leaving for a job. 

   “Work. Some uppity rich people want to drag their kids out of bed at the crack of dawn to get their family portraits done. I'm absolutely bewildered, but they're tipping well, so who am I to complain, right?” He smiles slightly, looking at his friend. “I'll bring home coffee, I should be done by eleven.” He pats Lance’s shoulder. Then, he gets a confused look on his face. “Wait, why are you doing home? You didn't stay with her?” He suddenly asks, kind of confused. Lance just sighs and shrugs. 

   “Didn't wanna bother her, is all,” He lies, shrugging again. “So I just came home after a while. Anyways, good luck with the shoot, I'm gonna get to bed now.” Keith smiles a little and nods. 

   “Alright. See you.” He gives a little salute before turning and walking past him and towards the front door. 

   Lance watches him, and he can't help but feel a bit relieved that Keith didn't ask about his night in detail. He was usually so casual about his frivolously sexual lifestyle, but Keith was… drifting, lately. Away from him. And it felt weird, and even a little awkward. He didn't understand it, but at the same time he did. Keith had been getting more work lately, spending more time down at the studio, and Hunk's started writing some book, which Keith had been helping with a little.

   Lance just felt a little…pushed off to the side. He missed spending time with Keith, and he's sure he'd been a part of the problem. He hadn't made any effort either. He decides he'd plan something out, for just the two of them. Keith’s been busy, he deserved some time to just chill out. So, instead of sleeping like he really should before his shift that night, he tries to think of something Keith would like to do with him. 

   With _just_ him. 

 


	3. Chapter 3

  Keith walks in with a couple coffees- Lance liked his unbelievably sweet, and that's why Keith remembered it -looking tired. He looks at Lance, who is, once more, laid out on the couch, staring at his laptop screen. He sets the holder down on the counter and shrugs off his coat, laying it over a chair near the front door. 

  “Got your coffee,” He mentions as he points to the holder when Lance looks up at him. Lance smiles and nods. 

  “Thanks, Keith. So, hey,” He starts, setting his laptop aside and standing up, clapping his hands together as he walks towards Keith, a smile on his lips. “What do you think of going out this afternoon?” He asks, the look on his face hopeful. “I don't have work until seven, so we've got some time, but…”

  Keith is looking at him, a little confused. Then, he smiles, raising an eyebrow. “You never want to go out with me.” Both meanings of that phrase made Keith’s heat twist painfully, and he kind of has to stop himself from cringing over it. 

  Lance laughs a little, shaking his head. “Okay, yeah, but-” He holds up his hands. “We haven't spent some real time together in forever, buddy.” He puts his arm around his shoulders, squeezing him a little. “What do you say?”

  Keith doesn't say anything for a moment. “Well, what are we doing?” He asks, his voice soft and a bit nervous sounding. On the outside, Keith was seriously trying to keep his cool. It was a little ridiculous to be freaking out over simply hanging out with his friend, which he'd done hundreds of times before, and not to mention, he fucking  _ lived  _ with Lance. What was so scary and nerve wracking about simply hanging out with him? 

  Keith figured it was because deep down, he'd pretend it was a date. 

  Lance takes a deep breath, looks away, then laughs a little, slinking away from Keith. “Okay, I'm not actually sure, but- but-” He was starting to stutter, and Keith was honestly pretty confused. Was Lance making this a big deal? Lance takes a deep, calming breath. “Look. I kinda noticed that, um… you've sort of been…” His eyes rolls towards the ceiling, and he waves his hands a little, searching for the word. “Drifting, I guess. I know I probably sound like a therapist or some shit, but it feels like you're getting distant, is what I'm trying to say. And I miss hanging out with you. You're my best friend, man, and the last thing I want is to lose you.”

  Keith swallows nervously, his heart starting to beat a bit faster. It was ridiculous- most everything Keith did felt ridiculous -but hearing ‘best friend’ once more solidified the fact they'd never be anything more, like it wasn't solid before. Instead of letting himself dissolve in a puddle of despair, he puts on a big smile and nods a little. 

  “Yeah, no, I totally get it, I just… I've been busy with work, and so have you, and it's just been kinda hard to find time to…to hang out with you, you know? So, uh, I'm sorry, but we can hang out today. Absolutely. Whatever you want.”

  The light that comes to Lance’s eyes when Keith says that makes Keith’s heart ache a little, and he reminds himself to keep smiling as Lance starts talking. “Awesome. I mean, I know you like the park. We could go there, and you could take your camera-”

  “I've been taking pictures all morning,” Keith reminds him, and Lance visibly deflates a little. Keith instantly feels bad, so he chuckles, holding up his hands to calm his friend. “But you're right. I do like the park. Yeah, let's do that. We can get lunch, too. On me.”

  
  
  


  It was spring, and the park was in full bloom, the flowers giving the air a sweet smell, the bright green grass inviting people to sit and relax, the sunshine making it pleasantly warm. Keith is glad Lance managed to get him out, because even he has to admit that this is really nice. They decided to walk, since it was only a few blocks away, which provided them some time to just chat. 

  Keith pulls out his camera once they're actually in the park, and he snaps a few pictures of the trees, the flowers the sky… and he catches Lance of guard and gets a picture of the other man smiling at a pigeon. When Keith looks back at it, he laughs. “Dude, look.” He nudges Lance. 

  Lance looks over, and Keith holds the camera out for him to see the picture. Lance snickers at the photo. “Oh my God,” He mumbles, rolling his eyes. “It was a nice pigeon, okay?”

  Keith laughs and shakes his head fondly. “Sure it was, buddy.” They resume their little walk, Keith occasionally taking a picture of this or that, Lance going on about something that happened at work, and the previous night. Keith isn't paying a lot of attention until he hears a few key words. 

  “She wants to go on a date,” Lance says, and that's when Keith feels his heart sink, his attention snapping to whatever Lance is saying. Lance was single. Sure, he went out every now and again, but he didn't date. But now that Keith is hearing this, he kind of has to fight the way cold panic runs through him. 

  “A date?” Keith asks casually, smiling at Lance. “You don't date.” Lance nods a little, smirking. 

  “I mean, I guess I should've expected it, she had a great time last night, but…” He shrugs. “You're right, I don't. I don't know, being tied down to one person?” He tsks, shaking his head. For some reason, that feels worse to Keith then Lance actually dating someone. 

  Keith shrugs. “I guess just do whatever you want to,” He murmurs, looking up at him. “Do you like her?” He asks, and Lance winces just a little, shrugging one shoulder. 

  “I don't know. I mean, she was nice, not too bad in bed, made me laugh a couple times. Maybe I should give it a go.” Lance sighs, and deep, deep down, he knows it doesn't feel right to say this. He doesn't really want to give it go. He doesn't know exactly why, but he can't ever manage to connect with someone in a way that went past sex and one night stands. Well, okay, that was sort of a lie. He had an idea, but it was one he had to get the hell over before he ruined what he had with Keith. 

  Maybe going out with Amber could be a good thing.

  “Yeah, that'd be cool,” Keith agrees, nodding a little, even though his heart his aching, his hands are shaking, and he kind of feels like crying. Lance smiles a little and nudges him, changing the subject.

  “So when are you gonna find yourself a girl, Keith? You haven't had a girlfriend since middle school, dude,” He teases, elbowing his side a little, and Keith’s attention instantly shifts. He grimaces. 

  God, this again. “Lance, I told you, I just don't want to be with anybody right now.”

  “Oh, come on,” Lance laughs, stopping and facing him. “I've seen you get all googly eyed when you read those dumb romance books.”

  Keith huffs, blushing as he looks away, sliding his camera back into its bag at his hip. “Okay, whatever. You wouldn't get it,” He mutters, wanting to get off the subject. It isn't easy to say he can't be with anyone else because he's already in love with someone, that someone being Lance. Not to mention, Keith wasn't even out to Lance, so it'd be even harder to say he wasn't even remotely interested in women to begin with. He was honestly bewildered Lance hadn't caught on by now, considering they'd known each other for fifteen years.

  Lance shrugs a little. “I wanna get it,” He murmurs, suddenly getting serious. “I mean, like… I feel like there's something you're keeping from me. You always get so defensive when I bring this up.”

  “Well, yeah,” Keith says as if it should be obvious. He looks at Lance again. “I'm not you, Lance. I'm not comfortable with this stuff.”

  “I'm not asking about your sex life, dude, I'm just kinda wondering when you're gonna get yourself out there. It's bumming me out to see you alone all the time.”

  “Whatever, man,” He mutters, shaking his head and starting to walk away. “Like I said, you wouldn't get it.” Lance sighs and follows him. 

  “If something’s going on-”

  “Nothing is going on.”

  “Then why won't you tell me what's up?”

  “Why are you so intent on knowing about this, Lance?” Keith demands, suddenly stopping again and glaring at Lance. He was honestly trying to stop himself from shaking. “What do you even want to know?”

  Lance steels himself, looking back at his friend. “I want to know how I can help. I think it'd be nice for you to have a girl to go out with, get you out of the house, cheer you up a little-”

  Keith can't take it. “Lance, I don't  _ want  _ to be with any girl. I don't want a girl like the ones you fuck. I don't want you set me up like you've tried before, and I don't want your help. I don't even want a girl! I'm  _ gay _ , and your help won't actually help.” His voice was shaky, but he didn't care. This was also really not how he wanted Lance to find out. He starts walking away again, his heart beating fast, blood pounding in his ears, the panic clawing at his chest. 

  Lance is a bit dumbfounded. Keith was gay? He shakes his head a little and follows him. “Keith, hold on- will you slow down please?” He tries to catch up, and once he does, he grips Keith's wrist, making the other man flinch. He pulls him to a stop, and Keith doesn't look up, trying to keep his breathing steady. “Dude, why didn't you tell me?” He was honestly kind of hurt. How long had Keith kept this from him? 

  Keith is quiet, and he shakes Lance off. “I didn't want to change what you thought of me. I was scared you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore, or want to be around me, or something like that. I didn't want to lose you just because of who I am.”

  Lance is shocked, and the hurt just kind of amplifies. “Keith, I'm not gonna hate you just because you're gay. That doesn't really change the fact that you're Keith. You know, my best friend and all that. You know me better than anyone, I don't know why you thought this would change what I thought of you.”

  Lance was making this incredibly hard for Keith. God, if only he knew what the truth was. Keith just takes a shaky breath and closes his eyes, deciding to ignore that, and focus on the fact Lance knew he was gay now. “Okay, I'm sorry,” He whispers, and Lance relaxes a little, crossing his arms, still trying to shake off the fact Keith hid this from him-  _ him _ of all people. 

  He sighs. “I guess it explains why you always left those blind dates ten minutes in,” Lance mumbles, and Keith lets out a quiet laugh. 

  “Yeah. I'm…I'm sorry I kept this from you. Seriously.” He smiles a little and looks at Lance. “Are we okay?” He asks nervously, and Lance rolls his eyes, pulling Keith into a tight hug. 

  “Dude, of course.” He murmurs, squeezing him a little. 

  “And you're sure this won't change us? Like, you're not gonna be all ‘no homo’ whenever we accidentally touch, or hug, or anything, right?” Because that actually kinda scared Keith. 

  Lance laughs and holds Keith at arms length. “No, man, no. You're still my buddy Keith. I said that already. Just… don't keep this stuff from me anymore. You know you can trust me with anything. Even shit like this.”

  “I know,” Keith nods slowly. But he would never, ever tell him that he was in love with him.  _ That,  _ for sure, would change everything.

  That was something Keith just couldn't tell him. Ever. 

  
  
  
  


  Pidge and Hunk took it really well, and so did Shiro and Allura. Pidge even said she knew all along, and was just waiting for him for him to come out already. Hunk had solemnly nodded in agreement. Keith managed to laugh that off, and he was incredibly relieved that no one treated him differently. It did feel like a bit of a weight was lifted off his chest, which was a relief. Things are relatively normal after that, and life goes on as normal. 

  Keith even helps Allura and Shiro with the wedding planning, helping them pick a place that would produce the best pictures, scenery and backdrop wise. It's been a good few months since the engagement was announced, so planning was now becoming essential. They're discussing possible venues in Keith and Lance’s living room. one evening, talking about the pros and cons of possibly having the ceremony in the park when Lance comes in, grinning. 

  Keith looks up, raising an eyebrow. “Hey, what are you doing home? Aren't you supposed to be working late tonight?” He asks, and Lance shrugs.

  “I got off early, it's whatever. But Keith, listen.” He sits down in a chair next to the couch. He takes Keith's hand. “I got you a date,” He tells him, eyes sparkling with excitement. Keith can feel himself go pale, but it doesn't seem to shake Lance at all. Shiro and Allura, meanwhile, slowly get up. 

  “We'll come back tomorrow,” Allura tells Keith, patting his shoulder as she and her fiance take their leave. Keith is about to protest, wanting to tell them to stay so he wouldn't have to deal with this, but they're already gone. 

  He looks at Lance, grimacing a little. “Why?” is the first thing that comes from his mouth, and Lance just rolls his eyes. 

  “You know why. Anyways, I think you'll really like him.” He squeezes his hands. “His name is like, Ben or something if I remember right. I already said you'd say yes, so…”

  “Oh my God, Lance-”

  “C'mon, just give it a go. You never know what’ll happen if you don't put yourself out there.”

  “Who says I even want to be out there?” He feels miserable. Why did Lance have to do this shit when he knew Keith didn't want to date anyone? 

  “You might have fun. And anyways, even if nothing romantic comes out of it you'll have a new friend. You need more of those, you can't just hang with us all the time,” Lance insists, and Keith looks at him for a long moment before he closes his eyes and sighs. He knew damn well he'd never feel any sort of romantic attraction to this Ben guy, especially when he loved Lance more than anything. But… it'd keep up a ruse. He sighs again, running a hand through his hair. 

  “Fine. I'll go out with him.”

  And a few days later, Lance watches as Keith reluctantly walks out the door. He'd gotten ready, trying to look his best, and had even psyched himself up, saying this might be a good thing. Maybe, just maybe, he could fall for someone who wasn't straight. Who could love him like he wanted. Maybe he could move past Lance. He just had to give himself the chance. So he goes on that fucking date.

  Lance closes the door behind Keith after giving him some words of encouragement, but on the inside, Lance is…he doesn't really know how he's feeling. As he sits down once he's alone, he realizes this isn't really a good feeling. Sure, he'd set them up, but he'd done it mostly to prove to himself he could be happy that Keith is happy with another person. It wasn't turning out that way at all. His feelings towards Keith were… complicated. And he didn't like to dwell on them. He'd done everything he could, ever since he realized that he liked boys in addition to girls, to ignore any feelings he had towards Keith. 

  Because they were there, and they had been since they were teenagers. But Lance loved Keith. He was his best friend, his brother, someone he didn't want to lose. And now, even after finding out Keith was gay, he couldn't risk it. Anyways, who's to say that Keith even liked Lance? Was he even Keith's type? He probably wasn't. Either way, he did his damn best to push aside all those feelings and drown himself in meaningless relationships in hopes that he'd manage to ignore the fact he ever liked Keith. 

  He just didn't want to ruin their friendship by admitting these feelings. He was certain things would get incredibly awkward if he admitted his feelings. So he just… won't. Instead, he'll help Keith find someone. He'll keep himself busy with the ladies. And they'll both be happy and comfortable. 


	4. Chapter 4

Keith is bored out of his fucking mind. 

  They'd gone to a nice restaurant, one Keith and Lance had gone to a few times. He was trying to focus on this date instead of when he'd gone out with Lance, but it wasn't really working. It didn't help that he kept day dreaming in favor of tuning Ben out. Ben had been droning on for half an hour now about work and how much stress his job caused, and Keith couldn't even find time to interrupt, because he just never stopped talking. Honestly, Keith doesn't remember what Ben said he does. Eventually he quiets down long enough to sip from his glass of water, and Keith jumps on the opportunity. 

  “I'm a photographer, actually,” He says quickly, smiling a bit, trying to get the attention on him. Ben raises his eyebrows, setting his glass down. He looks a bit surprised. 

  “Are you really?” He asks, smiling. “That's cool, what do you take pictures of?” 

  Keith is just a bit surprised he's actually interested. “Mostly portraits and stuff like that, but I've gotten a lot of work doing weddings. It's most of my bookings nowadays. The guy who owns the studio I work at is actually considering letting me  _ have  _ the studio once he retires.”

  “Dude, that's fucking awesome,” Ben says, grinning. “You must be really damn good then.” Keith can't help but smile a little.

  “Yeah, I guess I am. I've had a few gallery openings too,” He mentions, remembering. “The last one I did was a few years ago, but those were all just pictures I'd taken on my friends and I’s trip to Europe. We’d gone for like, a graduation celebration when we'd graduated college.”

  Ben seems entranced, and he's kinda quiet for a minute until he perks up. “Do you have any photography books published?” He asks, smiling. Keith raises an eyebrow. 

  “No, why?” He asks, a bit suspicious. Ben just laughs. 

  “Dude, like I said, I work at a publishing agency. If you ever wanted to get some pictures together or something I could totally get you published,” He tells him excitedly, taking his hand. Keith surprises himself when he doesn't flinch away from the touch. 

  He's kind of in shock from the offer. “Wow, I…I don't know what to say,” Keith murmurs with a little laugh. “I mean… like I said, I don't do much besides weddings now-”

  “Oh, come on,” He squeezes his hand a little, smile turning to a grin. “I'm sure you've got a bunch of amazing pictures from those. If they're all artsy I can get them into a book no matter what the subject matter is. Sure, I usually stick to novels, but man. I'd love to see your work.”

  Keith is incredibly flattered, he can't deny it. The date hadn't been going well at first, but now it was turning around. He blushes, and he's embarrassed that he does. “Um… I've got an album of my photos at home, if you…if you want to see.” Oh, fuck. He hopes to God Ben doesn't take that as an invitation to fuck or anything, because he definitely can't handle that. 

  Ben just lights up, sitting up a bit straighter. “Oh, dude, that'd be awesome! I'd love to see.” He stands up, and Keith’s eyes widen a bit. 

  “Really? Wow, okay, um,” He stands up with him, laughing a bit in disbelief. He couldn't believe he was doing this. Taking a guy home, just to look at fucking pictures. He was glad that Ben had actually picked him up, because that eliminated the awkwardness of telling him to follow in his car. The ride is surprisingly not awkward, and Ben allows Keith to continue talking about his work, which is nice. Keith feels himself smiling more than he has in quite a while, and he isn't sure how to feel about it. He shakes it off once they're at his and Lance's place, and he smiles a bit as he leads in inside. 

  Lance looks up from where he sits at the kitchen island, eating, and when he sees Ben walk in, he's immediately hit with a wave of jealousy. Keith brought him home. Keith  _ actually  _ brought him home- and why the fuck is he jealous? He keeps a straight face though. 

  “Hey, Lance. He wanted to see some of my work- my pictures, I mean, so…I brought him to look at my album,” He explains as Ben looks around their living room, and Lance just gives him a  slight smile. 

  “Right,” Is all he says as he cleans up, throwing his dishes in the sink a bit too loudly. He gives Keith a sweet smile as he grabs his car keys. “I'm gonna head out, grab a drink with Pidge. See you later.” And he hopes he doesn't sound bitter as fuck as he walks out the door, leaving Keith kind of surprised. 

  He had no right to be jealous Keith would be sleeping with someone, or seeing someone, especially when he set them up in the first place. It was fucking ridiculous, and he hated himself for it. As he sits in his car, he feels his chest burn as he tries to push back the bitter, angry feelings that come up so suddenly it scares him. And suddenly, he can't hold it in anymore. Everything he'd pushed back for over a decade came rushing up, releasing itself as angry tears. He'd done his absolute best in ignoring this, in pushing it away, in denying everything to the point he was sure it was gone. And now, after seeing Keith with someone else, after seeing him smiling and flushed and  _ happy  _ with someone, everything inside snapped. It fucking sucked, and he didn't know what to do… so he just cries, getting a decade’s worth of agony out in the fifteen minutes he's sitting there until he finally composes himself enough to actually drive to Pidge and Hunk's. 

  Keith, meanwhile, has shaken off whatever was wrong with Lance- a date was probably cancelled, and he was just pissed off about it -and finds his photo album in his room, bringing it out to the living room for Ben to see. They talk about scenery, the people in the photos, and Keith tells story after story about the photos, having a few for each one. By the end of the evening, Ben seems to really like him. Keith can tell, and after some convincing, he manages to calm himself enough to actually kiss Ben goodnight. 

  Ben leaves with a warm smile, waving to Keith a little. Keith waves back, closing the door. He exhales the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and closes his eyes. That date went a way he wasn't expecting it to go. He was expecting some shitty guy to take over and possibly pressure him into sex or something, but he was relieved that wasn't the case. However, there was one big problem. 

  Keith wasn't romantically attracted to him. Ben was a nice, attractive man. Dark hair, scruff, tanned skin, stunning eyes, muscles… don't get him wrong, Keith could really appreciate that he looked so good. But he only really wanted Lance. And he felt bad that he couldn't move past that. And to make it worse, he doesn't have the heart to tell Ben he's not interested in a relationship. He feels like absolute shit over it, and decides he will absolutely tell him next time they go out- because there's no way he's doing this over the phone. Nuh-uh. He might be a dick in this situation, but he wasn't that big of a dick. He decides to just wait for Lance to get home, and he gets changed into sweats and a t-shirt and sits on the couch to wait for him. 

  But Lance isn't going home. At least, not that night. When he shows up on Pidge and Hunk's doorstep all sniffly, they're pretty confused. But still, they gladly invite Lance inside to spill his woes. Lance wipes his eyes as he sits down on one of the chairs. 

  “Guys, I really need your help,” He murmurs, his voice rough from the crying. He looks at the two of them, and they both nod. 

  “Looks like you could use it, buddy,” Hunk says quietly as he looks him over. “Dude, what happened?”

  “You look like a mess,” Pidge pipes up, and Hunk nudges her. 

  “True, but seriously. Tell us what's going on.” Hunk looks at him, worried. Lance quickly comes up with some fake girl, to replace Keith, obviously. 

  “So...I've loved this girl…for over ten years now. And…because I was afraid of who I was, I kept it a huge secret from everyone, including her. I did my best to, uh…to convince myself I didn't like her, and I even help set her up with someone so I could get over her. Funny, right?” He tries to laugh, but it's a broken sound, one that makes Pidge and Hunk wince. “Um, anyways…so she goes out with this guy, and it turns out she had a really great time, and- and I feel like my heart is breaking into a million pieces? I have no idea what to do, or how to handle this, I just-”

  “Wait, wait, wait-” Hunk holds up his hands, stopping Lance from saying any more. “Why couldn't you tell her you loved her? And why the hell don't we know about it? You tell us everything, especially if it's about a girl-”

  “Dude, it's Keith,” Pidge whispers with a roll of her eyes. “Lance, why didn't you just say so?” She asks, smiling a little, and Lance kind of swears he's dying for sure now.

  “Oh my God no way, is it seriously Keith?” Hunk asks with a huge grin, and Lance groans, putting his face in his hands. 

  “Guys, it doesn't matter, I just- I just need to-” He looks up, and he's got tears in his eyes all over again, and Pidge and Hunk quickly stop joking around. 

  “Okay, okay, Lance. Tell us what we can do. How can we help?” Hunk asks, looking at him, concerned. “I mean…why are you hiding this from Keith? I really think you should just tell him, especially if you're this upset about seeing him with another guy.”

  “It might be a good idea to mention it before anything got too far with this other guy, you know? Maybe there's a chance of something happening, and I wouldn't want you to miss out on him. You know as well as I do that Keith is amazing,” Pidge murmurs, resting against Hunk. Lance shakes his head. 

  “I can't fuck up our friendship like that, Pidge. Things would get way too awkward, you know? It's why I kept it a secret for so long…I care about him too much to let anything fuck us up.”

  Hunk sighs. “I don't think you just telling him how you feel is going to mess anything up, Lance. I think you've been over thinking this, like, a lot. The worst he can do is turn you down. And knowing you guys, you'll just jump right up and everything will be normal again. You guys can never stay upset with each other for very long. I don't think this is any different.”

  “Yeah,” Pidge nods in agreement. “Anyways, you're probably so much better than whatever guy you set him up with. Like, a thousand times better than him.”

  Lance takes a moment to think everything over. “...I can't,” He whispers. “I don't know, I don't know…” He runs a hand through his hair. “Maybe.”

  Pidge and Hunk don't say anything for a moment. “Wait, are you gay too?” Hunk asks, breaking the silence between the three of them, and Lance rolls his eyes, exasperated. 

  “No, fuck, I'm bi,” He tells them, glaring a bit. “Just because I'm attracted to one- okay, a few guys -doesn't mean I don't really like girls, okay?”

  The two of them hold up their hands in defense. “Okay, okay, just wondering,” Pidge says with a smirk. “But seriously. Thanks for telling us. You know we're always here for you… as cheesy as that sounds, anyways.”

  Lance nods a little, smiling. “Yeah, I know. Thanks for being so cool about this. And… please, for the love of God, don't tell Keith.”

  
  
  


  Three weeks and counting.

  Well, Lance wasn't actually counting. 

  Okay, he was kind of counting. 

  Keith has been with this guy for three weeks now, and while it pained Lance, he couldn't help but see that his friend was clearly very happy with him. Ben came over a lot, and most of the time they just looked at Keith's pictures and talked and sometimes they even talked about Hunk, and some book or something. And, once or twice, Lance catches them kissing. Sure, it…yeah, it actually really bothered him, but it wasn't his place to say anything. Keith looked happy, and… that was that. 

  But what bothered Lance more than anything was the fact Keith was hardly even talking to him now. He was  _ so _ busy with that guy that he wasn't paying much attention to him, and it was kinda pissing him off. He missed his friend, and even if he wasn't single now, he could still at least say hi each morning, right? Obviously not, because Keith now left the house without saying anything. What the fuck was wrong with him. 

  Pidge and Hunk, true to their word, say nothing to Keith about Lance's feelings towards him. They loved the both of them a lot, and didn't want to accidentally fuck things up (between them and Lance, or Lance and Keith, or both). So they just watch Lance suffer with no actual way to fix it. It kinda killed them to see Lance so upset, but there wasn't anything they could do. 

  It all kind of falls apart for Lance on day twenty-two of Keith dating Ben when he decides to get completely shit-faced after work one night. He didn't mean to get as drunk as he did, but he was upset, and heartbroken, and  _ sad  _ when Keith said he wouldn't be home until morning as he left for his date with Ben earlier that day. He just kind of forgot to stop drinking.

  He sits at the kitchen island, nursing his tenth beer when he hears the front door open. He looks over, and Keith walks in, looking flustered, flushed, his hair a bit of a mess. Anger sparks up inside Lance when he sees. Who was Keith to be sleeping with someone else? To date someone else? To completely ignore him? He stands up and shaky legs when Keith tries to walk to his room, and he stops him. 

  “Hey,” He says lowly, stepping in front of the hallway so Keith can get through. “Where the fuck do you think you're going?”

  Keith takes a step back, raising an eyebrow. “What do you mean, I'm going to bed- how drunk are you, Lance?” He asks, looking Lance over, bewildered. Lance just laughs.

  “None- none of your business, okay, but what the  _ fuck _ are you thinking? Staying out so late? And- and sleeping with that asshole? What the fuck, man?” Lance asks, giving him a pained look as he gently shoves him. 

  Keith frowns a little catching himself. “What are you talking about-?”

  “You know exactly what I'm talking about!” He raises his voice. “I didn't set you up so you could just go on to completely ignore I even exist, okay? I wanted you to be happy-”

  “I never asked for your help, Lance,” Keith reminds him with a straight, tired face, crossing his arms. Lance tears up.

  “I just wanted you to be happy and I didn't know how else to help,” He whispers, his voice choked. “I just thought- I just thought you could use someone to- to cheer you up a little, and-”

  “Lance, I wanna go to bed please.”

  “And instead you completely-” He jabs Keith's chest, making the other man scoff. “-ignored me. I mean, the last time you talked to me was a  _ week ago _ !”

  “Seriously, can I please just-”

  “What kind of person does that?” Lance asks, wiping his eyes. “You, Keith Kogane, are a shitty person-”

  “Okay, Lance, you need to go to bed. You're drunk and you-”

  “-who ignores his friends just to fuck some asshole guy-”

  “Jesus fucking Christ-  _ I didn't have sex with him _ ! Okay? I didn't have sex with him! And you know what? We aren't even together anymore. I told him I didn't want a relationship, and that I couldn't be with him anymore, and that I missed being with my friends, and…I broke up with him tonight.”

  Lance stares, a bit wide eyed. “What?” He asks after a moment. “Why do you look like that, then?” He asks, gesturing to all of Keith. He scoffs, rolling his eyes a little. 

  “I couldn't go through with sleeping with him, okay?” He whispers, smiling at him, upset. “I couldn't go through with it and lead him on even more.” He shoves past Lance, then turns to look at him. “Just fuck off, dude,” He mutters, going into his room and slamming the door shut, pissed off. 

  Lance watches, and for a moment, the world seems to spin and tilt in a way that made him nauseous. And before he knows it, he's stumbling to the bathroom to throw up everything he'd drank that night. He actually feels pretty terrible for accusing Keith of simply not caring. And it's all coming up now. 

  He knew he'd have to talk to Keith about this, before he  _ really  _ screwed things up. 

  
  
  


  Keith knew his friendships were being pulled thin, but he and Ben had been working pretty diligently on getting a book of Keith’s best photos together, along with discussing things with Hunk to start making a cook book. He couldn't help but be distracted. He felt bad, of course he did, and he felt even worse that he kept Ben around. He was lucky that Ben understood how Keith was feeling, and that it was okay he loved someone else.

  Keith got even luckier that Ben didn't really want a relationship either. The kisses and the (almost) sex was nice, but he couldn't commit to someone when he wasn't ready to. And anyways, Ben had said, he liked Keith much better as a friend and a client than he did a boyfriend. So Keith didn't feel too bad. He was glad he could remain friends with someone who was so cool and understanding.

  So when he got home that night and came face to face with an angry, drunk Lance, he can’t help but feel shitty all over again. After retreating into his room, he stews in anger for a while before he goes to bed, to try and sleep it all off.

  The next morning, he gets up to get ready for work, silencing the alarm he’d set the night before. His appointment wasn’t coming to the studio til later, so he had some time. He walks out of his room after pulling his hair into a ponytail. Lance is leaning against the counter, a mug in his hand. Keith frowns a little.

  “Hey,” He says quietly, grabbing himself some coffee. Lance sighs and looks at him.

  “Keith, can I just apologize for last night?” Lance asks, sounding a bit desperate, and Keith just sighs, setting his mug down.

  “Look, you had every right to be upset. You were right. I wasn't spending enough time with you, and it's over now, so… yeah, I'm all yours.” He smiles slightly. “I mean, I've still got my book to work on, and I've got jobs and shoots to do too-”

  “Keith, seriously, stop. Okay, I was just- I don't really know why I was so upset, but… I was, and I want to apologize for it.” Lance takes a breath. “I guess I'm just not used to seeing someone else make you happy?” He whispers, his brow furrowing. That… sounded awkward. 

  Keith stares at him for a moment. “You mean you're not used to seeing me make actual friends that I like, huh?” He asks, and Lance just nods. 

  “Yeah, I guess that's it,” Lance murmurs, and Keith just nods. “I'm jealous, I guess, that you're spending so much time with him. I don't want to be your second best friend or anything.”

  Keith rolls his eyes a little, then steps close to Lance to pull him into a hug. “Dude, nobody's gonna replace you. So stop being weird about it, okay?” Lance simply nods and hugs him back, sighing quietly. 

  “Okay.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i dont know when Keith's birthday is

  “Okay, so this is where we're gonna have all the seating, and the arch is gonna be right here, in front of the lake. Right? And the sun will shine, and the flowers will be in full bloom by the time we get married, so it'll be absolutely perfect.” Allura leads her friends around the venue Keith helped her and Shiro pick. Keith is smiling, because he's already planning out the best spots for pictures. Lance puts his hands on his hips. 

  “Gotta say, guys, this is honestly a nice place. Now, my question is…” Lance puts his hand on Allura's shoulder. “Where is the reception?” He asks, and Pidge sighs, crossing her arms. 

  “We still haven't found a place with a good enough sound system. But we're not giving up, are we, Allura?” She holds out her fist, grinning, and Allura gives it a little bump, smiling. 

  “No we are not,” She tells her, amused. Lance smiles and nods. 

  “Right, right, makes sense. But let's not forget, I work at one of the best bars in town,” He points out, looking to all his friends for confirmation. And they all nod, of course. “So why not just have it there? You wanna rent the place out for a night, I'm pretty sure I can get you a decent discount.”

  Allura laughs nervously. “I don't know about having my wedding reception at a  _ bar _ , Lance. Especially with how… classy, I want the wedding to be.”

  Hunk shrugs. “Probably wouldn't be hard to class the place up a bit, would it, Lance?” He asks, looking at Lance with a raised eyebrow. Lance shakes his head.

  “Not at all. In fact, it'd be easy if you all helped,” He says with a smile, looking around at everyone. Allura looks a bit uneasy, then she looks at Pidge. 

  Pidge shrugs. “I've deejay’d there once or twice, it was pretty awesome. So yeah, I think that would be a great place. It's got my vote.”

  “Same,” Hunk and Keith say at the same time, and Lance grins at Allura. See, he could be helpful. Allura sighs and smiles. 

  “Alright, Lance, I'll rent the bar,” She says with a resigned tone, and Lance claps. 

  “Awesome!” He whoops, giving the air a good punch. “So, we've got this like, super beautiful venue, super awesome reception area, super cool bartender and caterer, a smokin’ deejay, and a killer photographer. What else do we need?”

  Allura goes over her mental checklist before pulling her phone out and checking the actual checklist. “Um, we've got a florist, my uncle Coran stepped in for that. Pidge is my maid of honor, Keith is Shiro's best man, and Lance has so very willingly offered to be the flower girl, and-”

  “Ooh, I'm the ring bearer!” Hunk exclaims, and Allura nods. 

  “Mhm, Hunk's the ring bearer. Coran will walk me down the aisle in place of my mother and father, I've got my dress, the color scheme is picked out… so it looks like all we've got left to do is to get your suits-” She gestures to the men, then Pidge. “-and Pidge’s dress. The wedding is…actually quite small, we've only got about 30 people in attendance with all our families put together, but it'll be very nice, and intimate, and perfect.” She smiles brightly, and the guys all clap.

  “Way to go, we got it all planned out,” Keith gently pats Allura’s back, and she smiles at him. 

  “Mhm. And after we get your clothes, all that'll be left to do is wait the next few months,” She tells them all, an excited smile on her face. Everyone is honestly really excited that the planning is going so well. The wedding was set for a sunny late April, and everyone was buzzing about it. As they all head home from the venue, Keith falls into step with Lance as they walk to his car. 

  “Wasn't sure you could pull off getting her to rent the bar,” Keith murmurs, looking up at Lance and smiling. Lance just chuckles, putting his hands in his pockets. 

  “Course I could do it,” He says with a grin. “Anyways, it's a banging place, it'll be great for the reception.”

  Keith just chuckles. “You're right.” He smiles at him, and Lance nods a bit, quiet for a moment before he seems to suddenly remember something. 

  “Oh, hey, did you get your new camera yet?” Lance asks, and Keith shakes his head, smiling a bit. 

  “Nah, not yet.” He zips his jacket up, shivering a bit against the winter chill. “I'm a few hundred short, but with the bills and stuff I won't be able to put much aside for a while. I'm  _ really  _ hoping to have it by the time the wedding rolls around, I just  _ know  _ the photos will turn out so damn good.”

  Lance smiles a little. “Yeah, I'm sure they will. But I can help you out a little, float you my tips and stuff,” He offers, and Keith quickly shakes his head.

  “No, I couldn't ask you to do that.” He smiles at him. “I've got a while to save anyways, I'll be fine.” Lance raises an eyebrow.

  “Mm, if you say so,” He murmurs, a smile coming to his lips. He takes a breath, watching as the warm air creates a little cloud in the cold air. Keith can't help but look up at him, biting his lip just a little. Sometimes, he couldn't help but admire how pretty Lance was. 

  Fuck…

  Keith looks back down, staring at the ground until they get to his car. He sighs and takes the keys out of his pocket, unlocking it. They get in, and Keith immediately turns on the heater. He huffs a bit and starts driving once they're buckled in, and Lance starts toying around on his phone. Keith doesn't pay much attention to him, until Lance suddenly laughs. He glances over. 

  “What?” He asks quietly, and Lance looks at him. 

  “Dude, we almost forgot. Your birthday is next week,” Lance chuckles as he nudges Keith. Keith grimaces when he realizes that yes, his birthday was less than a week away.

  “Can we not make it a big deal?” He asks, cringing as Lance gives him an excited smile. He was turning twenty-seven, and despite being pretty stable in terms of everything, he was feeling a bit… shitty. He couldn't explain it, but he was just really dreading time passing. Just another year he couldn't be with Lance, as dumb as that sounded. 

  Lance shakes his head, grinning. “What are you talking about? Of course we have to make it a big deal. Dude, I've got so much planned.”

  “You just said…but you just said we almost forgot…” 

  “I mean, you almost forgot. The guys and I have been planning something for like, weeks now. You thought we forgot, didn't you?” Lance nudges him, smug. 

  “Maybe.” Keith sighs, gripping the wheel a bit tighter. “Can you at least tell me what you have planned?” He asks, hoping it doesn't sound like he's pleading too much. 

  Lance lets out a drawn out sigh, rolling his eyes. “Fine. Nothing big, really. We're just gonna chill at home, Hunk's gonna make your birthday cake, and Shiro's gonna bring that wine we all liked at that office party we went to with him.”

  Keith looks at him. “You promise that's all it is?” He asks quietly, a bit nervous. “Because I don't want anything big.” Lance nods, patting his thigh. Keith immediately tenses up, having to focus on keeping the car straight. Oh shit. 

  “Yes, Keith, I promise that's all it is. And…I even invited Ben.”

  “You didn't have to do that.” Keith glances at him uneasily, shifting in his seat a little bit, still kind of fluttery from the touch to his thigh. “I know you don't really like him anymore.”

  “Nah, see, I know  _ you _ like him.” Lance points out with a smile. 

  “As a friend,” Keith states, reminding him. “I'm his client now, you know. So is Hunk. We work with him, and we're just friends,” He reminds Lance, who crosses his arms and hums.

  “Okay, okay.” He looks out the window, and Keith shakes his head. 

  “Jealous much?” He murmurs with a sly smile, and Lance scoffs.

  “Please. You're allowed to have friends outside of me and the guys, you know.” Although, Keith was right. He could tolerate Keith spending time with Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, or Allura, no problem. They'd all been friends since they were kids, and they all loved each other. And Lance knows it's super fucking ridiculous, because he set them up in the first place, but he didn't like how much time Keith was spending with Ben. So, yes… he was jealous. But he wouldn't let Keith know that. 

  Keith just smiles and nods. “Okay,” He settles on, looking ahead, watching the road. 

 

 

 

  Hunk has his hands over Keith's eyes as everyone sang ‘Happy Birthday’, huddled around the big cake Hunk had made, a 2 candle and a 7 candle, surrounded by 27 little candles placed by Pidge, illuminating the dark kitchen. Keith is grinning as his friends sing, and he can't wait to see what Hunk's made this year. 

  The last verse is finished, and everyone claps and cheers as Keith's eyes are uncovered, and he's allowed to see the cake and the candles, which he laughs at, because 27 (29,counting the number candles) is pretty funny. The cake itself looks great, a simply decorated thing with pretty red roses, Keith's favorite color. Everyone demands that he make a wish, and Keith nods, smiling. 

  His wish had been the same thing for the past four years, but nobody had to know that. He leans down, takes a breath, and wishes for Lance as he blows out the candles. 

  Everyone claps again, and Shiro pops open the wine. Keith laughs and thanks everyone, hugging them back as they hug him one by one. They all sit down with wine and cake on the living room, and after talking, laughing, and eating, Pidge jumps up. 

  “I think it's time for presents,” She states, reaching into her bag and pulling out a wrapped box. Lance sneaks into his room to retrieve his present, and Shiro and Allura produce theirs, smirking as they hand over a decent sized box. Ben hands Keith a smaller box, smiling sheepishly. Keith takes everything that's handed to him, not noticing that Lance ever left. Lance keeps his present beside him. Best for last and all that. 

  “Mine first,” Been says, and Keith just smiles and nods, picking it up again. He hums quietly as he unwraps it, then opens the box. He laughs a little and pulls out a blank book. 

  “A new scrapbook,” He murmurs after inspecting it. “This is- this is actually really nice, Ben, thank you,” He tells him with a warm smile, and Ben nods, smiling back at him. 

  Shiro clears his throat. “Ours is next. Allura thought you'd like it.” Allura squeals a little with excitement. 

  “Open it, open it!” She nudges him, and Keith laughs, nodding. 

  “Okay, okay.” He unwraps it, then raises an eyebrow when he's faced with another box. “Funny,” He murmurs as he opens the other box,and Allura giggles. Keith looks inside, then gasps a little as he pulls out a very delicate crown of flowers. They were fake, but looked incredibly real, and Keith was honestly scared to hold it for very long.

  “I have a matching one,” Lance mentions when Keith looks a bit confused. “We're supposed to wear it at the wedding.”

  “We didn't want to wait to give it to you. We figured since you're going suit shopping soon, you could find a tie or something to match your flowers,” Shiro explains, and Keith grins. 

  “It’s beautiful,” He tells them. He murmurs a quiet thank you before carefully putting the crown back in the box. Pidge then urges him on. 

  “Ours next!” She says excitedly, and Hunk whoops, clapping once. 

  “Yeah! Ours next!” He agrees, and Keith chuckles.

  “Alright,” He murmurs, and he opens their box, and he finds it… empty, aside from a card with a single Polaroid picture in it. Keith reads the card first. 

  ‘The real gift is with Lance. We just threw money in.’ It reads, and when Keith takes a good look at the photo, he realizes it's of Lance, holding a camera up, and he's looking through it. Upon closer inspection, it's the new camera Keith has been dying to get, considering the one he's using is years old. He gasps, and looks at Lance. 

  “What the hell is this?” He asks quietly, holding up the picture. and Lance grins, holding out his present. 

  “Here, just open it.” He tells him, and Keith takes the box. 

  “I swear to God if this is some prank I'll kick all your asses,” He warns them as he opens the present, and when he looks inside the box, sure enough… “Oh- Oh my God-” He pulls the camera out, grinning ear to ear, absolutely thrilled. “No fucking way!” He shouts, tears filling his eyes. 

  He laughs, looking it over, and everyone just smiles, happy and amused. Lance chuckles. “Yeah, all of us kinda pitched in and got it for you. Even Ben threw in some money. We all knew how much you wanted… well, sort of needed, it, so-”

  Keith can't help it. He was absolutely overjoyed. He sets the camera back in the box, climbs into Lance's lap, cups his face, and kisses him hard all in one swift, careful move. 

  Instantly the room goes quiet, smiles disappearing from faces, the air suddenly still, and Lance just sits there, absolutely shocked. He doesn't move, aside from parting his lips just a little bit, and just a second later, Keith realizes what he just did. He quickly pulls away, his eyes a bit wide.

  Oh, fuck. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok this gets kinda nsfw. be warned

Keith slowly moves away, face bright red. He tries to make it look like he's still super happy, feigning a big smile. “I'm sorry, this is just so- it's such a great gift and, I was so excited- I just couldn't help myself,” He tries to laugh it off, and everyone sort of relaxes, chuckling along with him, seeming to understand that. Except for Lance, who is obviously forcing himself to smile. 

  “Yeah, yeah, I get it.” He smiles a bit wider, getting up. “Stunningly handsome man gets you the best gift ever? I'd totally expect a kiss after that.” He pats Keith's shoulder. “I'm gonna grab another glass of wine. Why not try that bad boy out, huh?”

  Keith nods, smiling a bit more genuinely now as he turns back to the camera. “Okay, okay,” He whispers, picking it up out of the box again starting to fiddle around with it. Hunk, pats Pidge’s thigh. 

  “Yeah, I think I'm with Lance. More wine!” He jumps up and follows Lance into the kitchen, and once they're kind of out of earshot, Hunk leans in. “Dude, are you okay?” He whispers, and Lance shrugs and he pours himself another glass, then takes Hunk's glass and refills it.

  “Yeah, dude, I'm fine,” He tells him with a smile,handing it to him. Hunk gives him an uneasy look as he takes the glass. 

  “Are you sure? I mean…he kissed you,” Hunk murmurs, swirling the wine in his glass a bit, looking down. Lance sighs. 

  “Hunk, he was just excited is all.” He smiles slightly. “It's not a big deal.”

  Hunk gives him a look, setting his glass down. “Okay, look, it's just us. You don't have to pretend for me. Seriously, what's going on?” He asks quietly, kind of concerned.

 Lance deflates, leaning against the counter. “Oh jeez, okay, it kind of killed me. I mean-  _ fuck _ , I'm in love with the guy, and he just-” He sighs and shakes his head. “I'm sorry, Hunk…”

  “Dude, no, it's okay. Look. It's the guy’s birthday. We just gave him like, the best thing ever. He's wanted it for over a year. Let's give him a pass, get you drunk, and it'll all be chill.” Hunk pats his shoulder.

  Lance nods a little bit, downing the glass of wine before pouring himself another. “Mm. Okay, let's get back out there.” He nods again, a bit more confidently this time. Hunk smiles a little and walks back out, taking his spot and letting Pidge climb into his lap. Lance sits down again, sighing, and Keith continues to fiddle with his camera. 

  He's taken a bunch of pictures in the short time Lance and Hunk had been away, and Lance can't help but smile about it. He just looked so damn happy. His smile fades a little bit when Keith sits next to Lance, flipping the screen towards them. 

  “We have to get a picture together,” He murmurs, putting his arm around Lance and holding the camera out. “Ready?” He asks, and Lance smiles and nods, resting his head against Keith's. Keith grins and takes the picture, really pleased with how it turned out. He rubs Lance’s shoulders before getting up and thanking everyone again. 

 

 

 

  The night ends with Keith giving everyone a hug as they leave. Once they're all gone, Keith closes the door and sighs, then turns to look at Lance. He smiles. “This was a lot better than last year,” He teases a bit, coming over to where he sits on the couch and sitting next to him. “Last year, all of us got too drunk to do anything, so we just kinda slept all over the place.”

  “I remember,” Lance says with a nod, sipping at his sixth glass of wine. He'd been finishing off a bottle. His mind was pleasantly fuzzy and he gave no fucks. “Pidge was up all night puking, I had to hold her hair back because Hunk was out cold and couldn't do it himself.” He smiles slightly. “God, it was a mess. Fun as hell though.”

  Keith nods a little, smiling slightly. “So, um… I just wanted to apologize for earlier.”

  Lance looks at him, raising an eyebrow. “For what?” He asks quietly, finishing off his glass and setting it on the coffee table. Keith rubs the back of his neck. 

  “I mean, for kissing you. I just got so excited over the camera, and um,” He pauses, sighing and shaking his head. “I'm sorry.”

  “Dude.” Lance shakes his head, smiling slightly. “I totally get it,” He murmurs, his words slurring a bit. “Like I said earlier, I'd be kissing me too. Don't stress about it, okay?” He pats Keith's shoulder, ruffles his hair, then gets up. “I'm gonna hit the hay. We can bug Pidge and Hunk for hangover lunch tomorrow.” He yawns and heads to his room, and Keith just watches him go, not getting up to move himself. 

  He doesn't know what he was doing, kissing him like that. He could say it was the excitement, and it wouldn't be a lie. But he fucked up. He was certain his cover had been blown, and he had no idea what to do about it. He sits there contemplating his mistakes before he finally gets up and goes to bed. 

  He strips down to his boxers, gets into bed, and closes his eyes, sighing. He lies there for a moment before his mind goes back to that kiss. God, that kiss. Lance's lips felt just like Keith had imagined they would. He tasted like wine and Lance, a taste Keith would definitely not complain about. And the very slight way Lance moved his lips against Keith's...

  His imagination starts to twist and play and Keith finds himself imagining Lance kissing him like he was the air he needed to breathe, hard and desperate as he moans Keith's name. In Keith's head, it's the most beautiful sound he's ever heard. Keith's hands run across his own chest, down his stomach, across his thighs, but he pretends it's Lance touching him like this for the first time. His tipsy mind allows this thought, so his breath hitches when his hand brushes his thigh, just ghosting over his clothed cock.

  He bites his lip, his breathing picking up pace a little as he almost hesitantly slips his hand into his boxers, taking a hold of his already half-hard cock, giving himself a few gentle strokes. He imagines Lance above him, between his legs, pressing kisses to his neck as he strokes him off slowly, almost torturously slow, but in just the right way. He takes a shaky breath, letting his free hand continue to roam across his skin. He felt amazing, and beautiful, and like he was floating on air.

  All the thoughts racing through his mind, the way he's touching himself, the way he's imagining the love of his life… he's cumming in no time, his eyes squeezed shut, his hips bucking up a little as he cums into his hand, stifling his moan with his other hand so he didn't get caught. His heart is still pounding from the orgasm a minute or so later, and he takes a deep breath. 

  “Shit,” He whispers to himself, grabbing a tissue from the box on his nightstand and wiping himself off a little- he could shower in the morning. “Oh, God, I'm the worst,” He groans to himself as he flops back onto his bed after he tosses the tissue. Masturbating while thinking of Lance was not something he liked letting himself do, but… 

  Fuck it. It was his birthday. 

 

 

 

  Lance looks at himself in the mirror of the dressing room, messing around with his tie a little bit. It was now a month before the wedding, a month after Keith’s birthday, and they were getting the last minute things ready. It was the last fitting for their tuxes and Pidge's dress. Lance huffs as he fucks up the knot again, and Keith comes up behind him, making him jump a little bit. 

  “I can't get it,” He mutters, dropping his hands. Keith smirks and turns him around. He begins fixing his tie. 

  “You never can,” He murmurs, glancing up at him as he works, expertly tying his tie. He then smooths it out a bit, makes sure it's straight, then he steps back. “There.”

  Lance looks down at the tie, then he nods. “Very nice. Thanks,” He says quietly, looking at him and giving him a small smile. Keith nods, and they stand there awkwardly a moment before Keith sighs. 

  “Um,” He rubs the back of his neck, looking away from Lance. “So, look, I know this probably isn't the time, but-”

  “How many times do I have to tell you?” Lance puts his hands on his hips. “The kiss was nothing. Okay?” He smiles slightly, a bit irritated that this keeps being brought up. “It's…it's only something because you're _making_ _it_ something. And it was over a month ago. Let it go.” Because I’d really like to forget… 

  Keith looks at him, guilty. He opens his mouth to say something, but Lance holds up a hand, suddenly looking confused. That strikes a new sort of fear in Keith. 

  “Keith. Is there a reason you're so upset about this?” He asks quietly, and Keith, if possible, gets even paler than he is. Lowkey, in the back of Lance's mind, he's hoping there's a chance that Keith is only so worried because he likes him. It's not impossible, is it? Keith shakes his head. 

  “No,” He assures him. “The only reason I'm upset is because, you know, I'm gay. And like with everything else I do I don't want you to be uncomfortable with me. I didn't want to fuck it up, and I did by kissing you.”

  Lance looks at him for a long moment before he nods. “Fair. But it's not gonna happen. I keep telling you, dude, I don't know why you aren't getting it. You're starting to piss me off, you know?” He's smiling though, a bit of a teasing tone to his voice. 

  Keith gives him a guilty look, but he tries to smile anyways. “I know, I'm sorry.” He takes a deep breath. “But we're okay?”

  “God damn, Keith, yes. Shit,” He mutters as he rolls his eyes, nudging him out of the dressing room. “Come on, we gotta show Allura our tuxes.”

  They both walk out to where Allura and Shiro are sitting in chairs, a few mirrors in front of a little runway. Hunk is already standing there looking snazzy in his black tux, and Pidge is blushing, helping him straighten his tie, standing up on her tiptoes, which are barely visible because her pale pink bridesmaid dress is that long. She's grinning, looking incredibly smitten. 

  “Doesn't he look good, guys?” She asks, turning to look at Lance and Keith. They both nod, smiling, and Allura gasps when she sees all three men together.

  “You  _ all _ look good,” She with a little squeal. Shiro nods, looking them all over. 

  “I have to say, you all clean up pretty nicely,” He agrees with a playful smirk, and Keith gently punches his arm. Shiro rubs it, then looks at them all again. “Wow…” He whispers. “I kind of can't believe this is happening.”

  “Hey,” Allura warns, glaring at him. “You can't get emotional yet. There's still a month to go, I won't let you.”

  “I don't blame him,” Hunk whispers, his voice a bit choked. “Two of my best friends are getting married, and-” He looks to the ceiling as tears start to fill his eyes. He tries to blink them away, but it doesn't really work. “-Oh my God, here come the waterworks-”

  “Oh, no, Hunk, if you start, I'm gonna start,” Lance whines, shoving Hunk gently, starting to sniffle a bit. Both Shiro and Allura chuckle as they start to tear up themselves, and Pidge has to pretend she's not getting all teary-eyed with them as she takes off her glasses and crosses her arms. 

  Being the only one not focused on chatting away and crying, Keith goes over to his bag near the chairs and digs out his camera, quickly turning it on. He snaps a few photos of his friends hugging and laughing and crying, and he smiles at them all. It was sweet, this moment. The excitement and pre-wedding jitters. Keith can't wait for the actual day before. 

  He wonders if he'll ever get a day like that. 

 

 

 

  The big day was tomorrow. Everyone had gone to great lengths to make sure it was the perfect day for Shiro and Allura. The bar was booked for the night, they'd decorated that night, and the venue was going to be set up early the next morning. Keith's new camera was ready, Lance made a couple signature drinks, Pidge made sure sound systems in both areas were perfect, Hunk made a fucking amazing cake, and because there were so few people attending, it was easy to make sure there'd be enough food for everyone. Everyone was certain this day was going to be perfect. 

  Lance lies in bed, going over his responsibilities did the next day in his head. He felt nervous, excited, and… kind of sad. He wanted something like this some day. He wanted something like this with… with Keith. Originally he hadn't thought he was the marrying type, but after having a bit of a breakdown over the fact he'd been in love with Keith since they were kids months ago, he decides that he'd be the marrying type for one person only. 

  After a few sleepless hours he takes a breath and gets up, deciding he really just… needed to get it all out. He quietly walks down the hallway, towards Keith's room. He hesitates a moment before he slowly opens the door. He peeks inside, and Keith sits up enough to see Lance with his head in the door. 

  “Lance?” He whispers, and Lance comes in the rest of the way before crawling into bed with Keith without responding. Keith is surprised, but he doesn't protest. It was late, he was tired, and he couldn't sleep, so it was nice to at least have company. 

  Lance moves a bit closer to him, looking at him in the dark. “I couldn't sleep,” He whispers, biting his lip for a moment. Keith nods a little and rubs his eyes. 

  “That's okay, neither could I,” He responds, looking at him. He pulls the covers up over and Lance and sighs quietly. “You know…we haven't shared a bed since…since high school, I think.” He smiles a little, and Lance nods slightly. 

  “Yeah, high school. That was a long time ago.” He closes his eyes, trying to ignore the way his heart is starting to beat faster being so close to Keith's lips. He knew what he was doing, being here. He starts psyching himself up. 

  Keith, meanwhile, is kind of dying. Lance had just gotten into his bed. Lance was in his bed, close to him, so close he could kiss him. They'd been in close proximity before, but this… this was new. Different. Even the air felt a little thicker. Keith can't find any words to say, so he opts to say nothing. 

  Lance opens his eyes, and he looks at Keith, who smiles slightly at him. And Lance just can't take it anymore. He leans in and he kisses him softly, and he's so thankful that Keith doesn't immediately move away. Although Keith is honestly very surprised, the happiness he feels takes over, and he kisses him back, sighing quietly against his lips. There was no way he'd ruin this by protesting or asking questions. 

  Holy shit, this was happening. Neither of them can really believe it, but it's… nice. It's so nice, that they get caught up in each other, not breaking apart, their lips staying connected, parting only to breathe and to sigh and to pull each other closer with a smile. 

  After a good few moments of this, Keith forces himself to pull away. “Lance- hold on, Lance,” He pants, shaking his head a little. “Not that I'm not absolutely fucking thrilled, but what the hell is going on?” He asks quietly, and Lance looks at him. What better time to be honest? 

  “Keith, I love you. And- And I've always loved you. I know I seemed like the type to just sleep around and not give a shit but I always gave a shit when it came to you, I was just so afraid of - of  _ myself  _ and I was too scared to admit that I fucking loved you.” It all comes out in one big breath, and Keith can't help the big smile that comes to his face. 

  “Fuck, Lance,” He whispers, chuckling a little, gently stroking his cheek. “I've…I've always loved you too. Always.” He tries not to tear up, but he's just so damn happy. “As lame as that sounds, anyways.”

  “No,” Lance laughs a little and shakes his head, kissing him quickly. “I, uh… I really wish I'd realized this all sooner. I mean, you know… I should've seen the signs. Now that I'm thinking about it, it was pretty obvious you had the hots for me.”

  “Oh my-” Keith rolls his eyes, gently shoving him away playfully, and Lance laughs out loud, pulling himself closer again. 

  “Sorry, sorry,” He says through his laughter, cupping Keith's face in his hands. Keith just shakes his head slightly, leaning in again. 

  “...are you serious, though? You're not just messing with me about this?” He asks, suddenly getting serious, a worried look crossing his face. Lance’s own smile fades, and he nods a little.

  “Yeah, I'm serious. I spent the past decade and a half loving you, and being afraid to admit it, and being afraid that you didn't love me back. There's seriously no way I'd make this shit up.” He cracks a small smile, and Keith visibly relaxes. 

  “You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that,” He whispers. “Because if it wasn't obvious, I feel the exact same way.”

  Lance chuckles and gives him a quick kiss. “I uh, I see that now.” He pulls back a little to look at him. His best friend. He saw him in a different light now that they'd both gotten their feelings out on the table, and Lance couldn't be more relieved that Keith felt the same way. He'd been so terrified before… but now he knows he had no reason to be. 

  They're both quiet, just sort of looking at each other before Keith shifts a little bit. “We should get some sleep,” He whispers finally, breaking away from Lance. “Not that I don't love what just happened, but we have  _ a lot  _ to do tomorrow.” He gives him a little smile. “Think you can sleep on your own now?” He asks, and Lance chuckles, nodding slightly. 

  “Yeah. Thanks for…that,” He murmurs, giving him a sheepish smile. He gives him one last kiss on the cheek before he gets up. “Night, Keith,” He says as he walks out the door, and Keith just watches him, smiling slightly.

  “Night, Lance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that isn't even as dirty as it gets bye


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay it's time for the wedding finally

Lance carefully tosses the petals down the aisle as he walks down it, making Shiro laugh from where he stands at the front of the aisle. He nudges Keith, who is already taking pictures of a very happy looking Lance. He's grinning, spinning around a bit, turning to give Hunk, who is right behind him with the rings, a big smile. Hunk can't help but laugh too, and Keith, of course, takes pictures of their little interaction. They were adorable. 

  Keith gives Shiro's shoulder a little squeeze before he walks away to get pictures from a different angle, but not before taking one more picture of Lance, who shoots him a flashy smile. Keith just shakes his head fondly before aiming the camera at the beginning of the aisle, where Allura is being held in a hug by her uncle Coran. After her parents’ passing, he was all she had.

  Keith takes a few pictures of their embrace, capturing the raw emotion in the looks in their faces as they pull back and look at each other. Coran gently wipes Allura’s eyes before pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. He then stands up straight, wipes his own eyes quickly, then offers his arm to Allura. She takes a deep breath, composing herself a little. She puts on a smile as she takes Coran’s arm, letting herself be walked down the aisle. 

  Shiro watches, and he's speechless because of how beautiful his soon to be wife was. He didn't want anyone but her, and the soft, loving smile on her face as she walks up to him only told him that she didn't want anyone else either. Keith makes sure to capture every moment he can, making his way back up to his spot behind Shiro, next to Lance and Hunk. 

  As Allura and Shiro exchange their rather tearful vows, Keith is sure to get each smile, each tear, each laugh in a picture. It was so obvious the two are in love, and their vows and these pictures were just evidence. He couldn't wait to show them later on. He gets the ring exchange, and then their first big kiss as husband and wife. There isn't a dry eye in the room when they kiss, Keith included. Keith lets his camera hang around his neck so he can cheer with everyone else as the newlyweds hurry back down the aisle, laughing and crying as they get into the limo to take them to the bar, which Lance had made sure looked ‘dope’.

  As everyone calms down a little as they head to their respective cars to head to the reception, Lance pulls Keith back, so they're behind pretty much everyone. Keith raises an eyebrow. “What?” He asks quietly with a little smile. Lance shrugs a little. 

  “Just, uh… wanted to…” He doesn't finish his sentence, because he pulls Keith in for a kiss. Keith’s eyes widen a bit, but after a second, he closes them and lets himself melt against Lance a bit, kissing him back. Lance smiles against his lips before he pulls back. “It kinda feels really right to do that.”

  “Do what?” Keith asks with a quiet chuckle. God, it felt amazing to kiss Lance. He'd been waiting so long for it, and for Lance to want to kiss him too? Beautiful. It felt great. 

  “Kiss you,” He says with a little smile, as if it should be obvious. “Like, I know this is still really new for us and everything, but…you know.” He offers him a little shrug, and Keith just smiles. 

  “Yeah, I get it,” He says quietly, nodding in agreement. “But uh, for now we should probably get to the reception.”

  Lance nods quickly. “Mhm, you're right.” He pats his shoulder and starts walking again. Keith shakes his head fondly before following him to the car. Admittedly, it was a little weird for both of them. While they were both glad the feelings were mutual, they had a little difficulty with being open about their feelings now. Things were tentative, but so far they were working. Both were relieved about it.

  Of course, they weren't coming out as a couple or anything any time soon. Oh no. They were still coming to terms with it themselves. And there's no way they'd do it soon after the wedding. For now, this would all be just for themselves. 

  Upon arriving to the reception, they find that Pidge has already started on the music, and Shiro and Allura are looking around, incredibly pleased with the decor. The rest of the guests all seem to already be having a good time. Lance, pretty proud of himself for pulling this off, nudges Keith before taking his leave to tend the bar for the red of the night. Keith chuckles and goes to greet the newlyweds again, picking up his camera to snap a quick picture.

  He does his best to take pictures throughout the night, capturing happiness and smiles and laughs and tears and kisses and- fuck, Keith loved what he did. He knew these pictures would look damn beautiful. When everyone sits down for dinner, Keith makes his best man toast, a toast about how he knew from the beginning they'd end up here, happy and married, and he wishes them the best in their marriage. His speech is short and sweet, but meaningful all the same. The party really picks up after dinner, and Pidge is sure to make sure that people get up and dance. She's pretty proud of herself for picking songs that make everyone wanna groove. 

  Keith stands to the side most of the night, just taking pictures, but he eventually makes his way over to the bar, where he sits down in front of Lance. Lance smiles at him and pours him a simple glass of champagne, which Keith happily takes. He leans against the bar, looking at Lance. 

  “You did a great job sprucing this place up,” He says as he sips his champagne. Lance nods a little, looking around.

  “I really did, didn't I?” He smiles a little. “Allura and Shiro are having fun, which is what matters. And dude, your speech was awesome.” He nudges Keith a little bit.

  Keith shakes his head, smiling a little. “Nah, it wasn't. It was pretty…I don't know, generic, I guess,” He murmurs with a shrug. “I spent days on it because I couldn't think of the right thing to say, and I ended up with that.”

  “Shiro and Allura cried, so you did fine,” He assures him, grinning. “Did you get pictures of Allura shoving cake in Shiro's face?” He asks, and Keith laughs a little, making him choke on his champagne a bit.

  “Dude, hell yes,” He chuckles, setting his glass down and picking up his camera. He shows him the picture, and Lance laughs out loud. 

  “Oh my God, that's perfect!” He laughs as he looks at the picture. “It's great.” He calms down a bit, but he's still smiling wide. “You're really good at what you do, Keith.”

  Keith just shrugs, looking at him. “I'm okay, I think,” He says quietly, smiling sheepishly. “But anyways,” He murmurs as he turns to watch everyone having a good time and dancing. He's about to say something when time seems to slow down a bit. Holy shit. This is the perfect photo. 

  Shiro and Allura are dancing together, smiling and laughing, their cheeks a bit wet from tears. They almost seem to be illuminated under the colored lights, everyone dancing around them. But it's obvious they're the main focus here. And they look so damn happy, so in love. Keith quickly picks up his camera, snapping the picture before the opportunity passes by. He takes a breath, smiling a bit.

  Lance raises an eyebrow. He's never really seen Keith zone out like that before. “You okay?” He asks quietly, and Keith nods. 

  “Oh yeah, I'm fine,” He says, looking back at him. “It's just…they're really beautiful. They're like, a perfect couple and I wanna capture everything. I saw the perfect moment just then, I had to get it.”

  Lance nods, seeming to understand this. Then, he shifts forward. “Would you be like that at your own wedding?” Lance asks with a little smirk, and Keith blushes, turning away quickly. 

  “Well, I wouldn't exactly trust my wedding to just any photographer, you know,” Keith insists, crossing his arms a bit. “So I'd probably do it myself.”

  “Hm. Okay. But how can you get all those cutesy moments like Shiro and Allura if you're behind the camera instead of being cute?” Lance asks, smirk turning into a grin. 

  “I-” He pauses, then huffs, feeling a bit flustered, talking about weddings with Lance. “Shut up, why are we even talking about it?”

  “Because I think it's cute to see you get all flustered,” Lance admits, poking Keith’s shoulder, amused. Keith scoffs, shaking his head. He was honestly relieved that this whole flirting thing came so naturally to them. It was a bit weird being open about it now, but it wasn't bad, or awkward, like they'd both kinda expected it to. Sure, the fact that they were kind of dating now was a huge adjustment, but it was coming easy so far, and it was a relief. It's been less than a day, but it already feels so good. 

  “Whatever. ‘Wedding’ shouldn't even be in our vocabulary right now, unless it's about Shiro and Allura’s, okay?” He crosses his arms and looks back at the crowd. Lance just stares at the back of his head, smiling like a fool. He loved him. He's  caught staring when Pidge casually makes her way over, putting her headphones around her neck. Lance quickly steps away, pretending he wasn't just smiling at Keith.

  She raises an eyebrow before nudging Keith. “Hey, can you go help Hunk with packing up the leftovers? We're gonna start winding down soon.” She tells him, and Keith shrugs and gets up, finishing his champagne before he heads over to help Hunk pack food up. Pidge then turns to Lance. “Okay, explain that look.” She demands, and Lance looks at her, feigning confusion. 

  “What look?” He asks with a sheepish smile. “I wasn't- I didn't have any sort of look,” He insists with a shrug.

  “Don't fuck around, dude, I saw the way you were looking at him. He could've turned around and saw you.” She sighs. “I thought you were trying to keep that a secret.”

  Lance sighs a bit and leans against the bar, close to Pidge. “Okay, look. Don't tell a fucking soul yet, but…well, Keith kind of confessed to me that's he's had the hots for me since high school.”

  Pidge stares for a moment before she blinks a few times, honestly surprised. “You? He likes  _ you _ ? I totally didn't take you for his type.”

  “Oh my God, shut up.  _ Anyways _ , that's not the point. The point is that we’re…kinda trying out being together.” He offers Pidge a small smile. “And it's nice.”

  Pidge takes a second to process this before she takes Lance’s hand, offering him a soft smile. “Hey. You know whatever happens we’ll all be here to support you. And Keith too. I won't tell anyone until you're ready, cool?” She ruffles his hair after letting his hand go. “I've gotta get back to the music.”

  Lance watches as she walks away, fixing his hair. He feels a bit lighter after telling her about him and Keith. He was relieved she took it so well. All he could hope for was that everyone else would take it the same way.

  The night wraps up an hour or so later, and the bride and groom thank their friends with a kiss on the cheek beside they head home, exhausted. The guests leave pretty gradually, and eventually, it's just Lance, Keith, Pidge, and Hunk. They all group up and congratulate each other for pulling it off so awesomely. 

  “We pulled it off,” Hunk says with a relieved sigh as Pidge leans into him, wrapping her arms around him the best she can. 

  “We did, and now I'm fucking exhausted. So, can we all agree that we did a great job and go home?” She asks, smiling at them all. Keith rubs the back of his neck, yawning a bit. 

  “Yeah. We did great, guys.” He puts an arm around Lance's shoulders. “We deserve a good night's sleep, I think.”

  Lance nods and sighs, smiling weakly. “Alright, you two can head home. Keith and I will finish closing up here.” Hunk and Pidge don't protest, simply nodding and leaving holding hands as they walk out. Once they're gone, and Keith and Lance are the only ones there, Keith smiles slightly. 

  “One last drink?” He asks quietly, and Lance nods, kissing his cheek. 

  “Mhm,” He hums quietly, stepping behind the bar again, grabbing a couple glasses, and setting them on the bar. He grabs a bottle of whiskey, and pours them both a glass. Keith watches him, taking a seat on one of the bar stools. Lance slides a glass over to Keith, then hold up his own. 

  “What are we toasting?” Keith asks as he picks up his glass. Lance thinks this over for a moment, then he nods to himself. 

  “This toast is not only for Shiro and Allura, but for us. Because we love each other too, and love is great, and it makes people happy more often than not. So… to happiness, I guess.”

  Keith laughs a little, then clinks his glass against Lance's. “To happiness.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it was short I'm bad at this


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the rlly late update, work really kicked my ass this week...,,, 
> 
> also.... a lil bit of discourse but nothin too Bad

“Oh, yeah, these are perfect,” Ben says quietly as he looks over some of the best photos Keith took at the wedding. “I mean, you totally captured more than just people here. You've got like, emotions and shit like that. Dude, these are totally going in your book.”

  Keith laughs a little, blushing a bit. “Yeah, Shiro and Allura loved them. They gave me permission to use them in the book, if I wanted.” He takes a breath. “I wanna put them in.”

  Ben nods, grinning. “Sure. So we've got a good fifty photos going in, and so far they're all stellar. Now, my boss has made it kinda clear that I can't just stick any old photos in and call it a book. Do you think you could take the most important ones and maybe… write a story to go along with them? Or a description?”

  Keith thinks about this, then he nods. “Yeah, I could do that,” He says, nodding again. “All of them?”

  “Nah.” He shakes his head. “Most of them, I’d say. About thirty or so. You can do that, right?” He asks, moving a bit closer to Keith. He nods a little, smiling. 

  “Yeah, I'm sure I can,” He assures him, gathering up the photos and putting them in a neat stack, slipping them back into the envelope he put all the photos he was putting into his book in. He closes it up and sets it aside. “So, how's Hunk's book going?” He asks Ben, who is getting his jacket on. It was getting late, and he needed to be getting home soon. 

  “Ah, it's going pretty well. Definitely not as far as yours is, but we're working up to it. Pidge is helping him get recipes, and Lance got him some Cuban recipes from his grandma. It's Coming together, though. Slowly but surely.” He zips up his jacket. “I'll catch you around, okay? Good talking to you.”

  “Yeah, you too,” Keith says, getting up and seeing Ben out. He's about to close the door when he hears Lance exchange a greeting with Ben. He opens it a bit wider, smiling at Lance when he sees him. “Hey!” He says cheerfully, closing the door after Lance walks in. “You're home earlier than I thought you'd be.”

  Lance hums and gives Keith a quick kiss on the cheek. “Yeah, we had to close the bar a bit early because someone threw a punch. Idiots,” He mumbles, shrugging off his jacket. He tosses it onto a chair near the door, then sits down on the couch. “Pick your pictures from the wedding tonight?” He asks, and Keith nods, going over and sitting next to him, resting his head on his shoulder. 

  “Mhm, I picked some really good ones.” He takes Lance's hand, lacing their fingers. “Hunk's is going okay too. You gave him some family recipes?”

  Lance nods a bit and squeezes Keith's hand. “Yeah, I did. I figured I'd help him out a little. They're hella good recipes, I'm sure they'll make the cut.” He smiles, and Keith chuckles a bit. They're quiet for a moment, just sort of enjoying enjoying each other’s presence before Keith bites his lip. 

  “...are we gonna tell the guys about us?” He asks quietly, glancing up at Lance. Lance is quiet a second before he sighs.

  “It's been a month or so since the wedding, so…I think it's okay to talk about us now instead of them,” He teases, smirking and letting go of Keith's hand so he can put his arm around him. He hugs him close. “How do you wanna tell them?”

  “I don't know. Maybe we could just say it. It doesn't have to be a big deal, right?” He asks quietly, looking up at him. Lance nods, rubbing his shoulder a bit. Then, he chuckles. 

  “You're right. I'll be honest, I told Pidge at the wedding, and the first thing she said was-”

  “Wait,” Keith sits up, interrupting him. “Why’d you tell her?” He asks, voice quiet. Lance raises an eyebrow. 

  “Because she's our friend, and they were gonna find out eventually.” He shrugs a little. “Not a big deal.”

  “Yeah, but she doesn't even know you're not straight. How could she have possibly taken that?” He looks confused. “How were you so cool about that?”

  Lance smiles a bit before he takes a breath and his smile fades. “Okay, look... I came out as bi to Pidge and Hunk a good few months before the wedding. Shiro and Allura found out too.”

  Keith stares at him for a long moment. “Why didn't you tell me?” He whispers, confused. Lance looks at him. 

  “I guess the same reason you didn't tell everyone  _ you  _ were gay for years upon years. I mean, you even kept it from me, dude.” He moves away from him a little.

  Keith chuckles in disbelief. “Yeah, but I didn't just tell everyone  _ but you.  _ God, you're a dick.” He stands up, shaking his head a bit. “I'm going to bed.”

  Lance stand up after him, then grips his wrist to keep him from walking away. “Dude, why are you upset? What does it matter? I'm with you now, aren't I?”

  “You're kind of missing the point, Lance,” Keith mutters as he shakes Lance off. Lance sighs, rolling his eyes a bit. 

  “Then what is the point?” He asks him, crossing his arms. 

  Keith turns and looks at him. “I just think it's kind of shitty that you kept it from just me, is all. Why was coming out to me so big a deal that you just kept it from me completely until we got together?”

  Lance honestly didn't have a fantastic excuse. “I don't know, Keith,” He says quietly, and Keith scoffs, but Lance continues anyways. “I mean, this was before I was ready to seriously admit I had a thing for you. I was scared coming out to you might let it slip that I also loved you. And, you know, I wasn't ready for that. So, I'm sorry from keeping it from you.” He shrugs a little, crossing his arms and looking away. 

  Keith stares at him for a moment before he just sighs and nods, coming over to Lance and giving him a hug, resting his head on his shoulder. “I get it,” He whispers, a bit relieved when Lance hugs him back. “Sorry I got upset,” He mumbles, squeezing him a bit. 

  Lance shakes his head. “No, no, I get where you're coming from too.” He rubs Keith's back soothingly, kissing the top of his head. “We’re okay, though, right?” He asks quietly, and Keith nods, nuzzling into his neck a bit. 

  “Yeah, we're okay,” He whispers against his skin, kissing him softly. Lance sighs quietly as Keith kisses his neck, and he slides his hands to Keith’s waist, squeezing gently.

  “Mm, hey,” He whispers, gently nudging him back. He cups his face and looks down at him, unable to stifle a smile at Keith's slightly confused looking face. He gently strokes his cheek. “Let's not get carried away. It's late, we’ve both got shit to do tomorrow, and it starts with bugging our friends for food and smooching in front of them like it's no big deal.” He kisses his forehead, and Keith smiles slightly. 

  “Smart,” He murmurs, giving him another quick hug. After a kiss, they both say goodnight and head to their respective rooms. They felt a little weird about sharing a room still, and they've only slept in the same bed a few times after getting together. And while they've both had sex with other people, sex with  _ each other  _ made them nervous, and they didn't exactly want to venture there just yet. They'd gotten close once or twice, but ultimately decided they weren't ready yet for one reason or another they didn't choose to share. They were taking it slow, apparently. 

  When they go to Hunk and Pidge's to bother them for breakfast the next morning, Keith gives Lance a quick kiss before he goes over to help Hunk cook. Hunk just kind of stares at them, bewildered by what he's just seen, and then he looks at Pidge, who is grinning as she sits on the kitchen island. “Ha.” She lets out a quiet laugh as she sips her coffee. 

  “Uh, what was that?” Hunk finally asks. Lance shrugs.

  “Did we forget to tell you? Sorry man, my bad. Keith and I? Kind of a thing now.” He smirks and makes a smooch face in Keith's direction, making the other man roll his eyes and turn away. Pidge chuckles behind them, and Hunk looks at Keith.

  “Keith, you aren't saying anything. He's not joking? He's being serious?”

  Keith nods. “Mhm, he's serious.” He leans against the counter, smiling a little. “Took us a while, but-”

  “Aw, dude, that's awesome. Can't believe it! My two best friends are totally screwing now,” He puts his arms around both of them, and Lance laughs. 

  “Nah, believe it or not we actually-” Keith shushes him. “Okay, Keith, you'd be pissed if I said we did it every night, right?”

  “Oh my God, we haven't had sex yet,” Keith hisses, scowling. Hunk lets them go as Pidge starts laughing. 

  “No way. Lance is like, the most sexual guy I know, you two seriously haven't?” Pidge asks, looking between them. Keith shoots her a look. 

  “Well, when was the last time  _ you _ slept with Hunk, huh?” He asks her as he crosses his arms. She’s about to snap back with some witty response, but the question actually stumps her. 

  “...you know, I can't honestly tell you.” She shrugs a little. Hunk smirks a bit. 

  “I will say this, it's been almost eleven months,” He reminds her, and she nods, making a little face.

  “That sounds about right. Sex is gross and weird.”

  Hunk scoffs, laughing a little as he looks at her. “That's not what you said when you were-”

  She points a finger in Hunk’s face as Keith and Lance start laughing. “Shut the fuck up, Hunk,” She warns, glaring. Hunk just chuckles, moving her hand out of his face so he can kiss her. 

  “You know I don't care about all that with you, Pidge,” He murmurs, smiling a little as she pouts a bit. “I love you, and I don't care if we never have sex.”

  Lance presses a hand to his heart. “You two are so sweet, but honestly how the hell do you survive without sex?”

  Hunk shrugs, turning to him. “She's ace, and I have, like, no interest in it either. Once in a goddamn blue moon it'll happen, but,” He shrugs. “It's not something we care about.”

  Keith nudges Lance. “I wish you were like that instead of all ‘fuck me’ all the time,” He mutters, and Lance rolls his eyes. 

  “Oh please, just the other day you almost jumped my bones when I got home from work,” He says with a little laugh, and Keith rolls his eyes.

  “What I mean is, that shouldn't really be the most important thing in a relationship. I mean, you guys have a great and meaningful relationship without sex, right?” He asks Hunk and Pidge, and they both nod. Keith nods with them. “I mean like that. Do we really have to?”

  Lance is quiet before he shrugs. “I guess not  _ all  _ the time, we don't,” He teases Keith with a smirk, and Keith rolls his eyes, smacking his arm. 

  “You haven't even gotten it at all yet, you big doofus,” Keith chuckles as he kisses him quickly. Then, he leans in close to his ear. “Just be patient, Lance,” He whispers in his ear, and Lance gives him a slight nod. Pidge grins. 

  “I saw some flirty whispering there,” She says in a sing-song voice, wiggling her eyebrows a bit. Hunk laughs at her, nudging her with his elbow. Lance waves her off. 

  “Was not. Hey, why isn't breakfast made yet?” He demands, trying to change the subject as Keith just stands there quietly and smiles. Hunk huffs, no longer smiling. 

  “Because you two and all your sexy talk got us all distracted. Get out of my kitchen!” He waves them all out of the kitchen, aside from Keith, so they can started on food. Pidge and Lance scowl and sit down in the living room. She sits next to him, then lies across his lap. 

  “So, it's all out in the open now, huh?” She asks quietly. “You and Keith.” Lance nods a bit, smiling a little. 

  “Yeah, I guess it is now.” He pats her hair. “It feels good. I mean, so far everything is good. I'm happy, he's happy. Nothing feels weird.” He shrugs a bit, and she smiles up at him. 

  “That's really good. And- if that conversation in the kitchen meant anything at all -it looks like you guys are taking it slow,” She points out, and Lance nods a bit. 

  “We’ve kinda been trying to take the sex step but so far we just can't. I mean, it might be me,” He points to himself as Pidge raises an eyebrow. “I've never had sex with a dude before. I know Keith has, he's the experienced one here.”

  “Dude, he's such a bottom.”

  “No way,” Lance sits up a bit straighter, his eyes a bit wide, and to Pidge it looks like he didn't know. “Is he?”

  Pidge gives him a look, one that says Lance should've known this. “Do you, like, not remember that night when we all got drunk and told sex stories?” She sits up. “If you were listening-” She pokes his chest. “You would've known that boy catches.”

  “Oh man,” He whispers. “I was all nervous because I thought he wanted me to- I'm an idiot,” He mutters to himself, relaxing against the couch again. 

  “Have you guys talked about this at all?” She asks him, a bit bewildered. “I mean, like, I know in the heat of the moment or whatever you can't really talk about who's gonna do what but…you've never done this sort of thing with a guy. I'm pretty sure it's okay to ask him some questions.” She shrugs.

  “I'd look like a total dweeb asking him how to have sex,” He mutters, crossing his arms as she lies back down and looks up at him. “It can't be that different than doing it with a girl. Just a different-” He stops when Pidge holds up a hand, closing her eyes. 

  “Save this for Keith, okay?” She asks quietly, smiling slightly as she opens her eyes again. “He could answer these questions better than I could.” She pokes his cheek, winking at him. “Couldn't hurt to ask.” And she was right. Lance just couldn't really believe he was this clueless. Maybe he could look it up on the Internet and impress Keith with his superior gay knowledge… Nah. The Internet was a bad idea. 

  So, asking Keith how to do it seemed to be the only way to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also I'm sorry it's short BUT THE NEXT CHAPTER Y'ALL!!!!!!!!!!!! BE PREPARED


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LITERALLY THIS WHOLE CHAPTER!!!!!!!!! 
> 
> ***
> 
> This was my first smut scene in a long time. I'm a lil rusty pls excuse me...... not to mention I wrote this whole chapter at four in the morning. so there's probs some typos too...... hm

Lance walks in from an afternoon shift around nine one night after sitting on his questions for about a week. He was trying to figure out the right things to ask without sounding like a virgin or something, which, in a sense, he supposed he was. A dude virgin. No, that sounded kinda bad. Lance shakes his head to himself, closing the door gently. Keith is just walking out of his room, fixing his ponytail. 

  “Hey, Lance,” He says with a smile, going over and kissing his cheek before heading to the kitchen. Lance doesn't really move, watching Keith walk away. “How was work?” Keith asks, opening the fridge and picking up some leftover Chinese food. He turns the box over in his hands as Lance takes a deep breath. 

  “Can we talk? Like, a serious kinda talk…” Lance shifts nervously, playing with his hands a bit as he slides his shoes off. Keith goes still, setting the food back down, closing the fridge. Oh, this couldn't be good. 

  “Uh, yeah,” He tries to smile as he walks back over to Lance. “What's up?” He asks, trying to be casual even though he was kind of really freaking out on the inside. 

  “I think we should, um…” Lance looks away from Keith, his tanned skin starting to turn a bit pink at his cheeks, betraying his embarrassment, which surprises Keith a little. He bites his lip, seeming stuck on the next words. 

  Keith gently puts a hand on Lance's arm. “Lance?” He whispers, now kinda concerned. Lance huffs, crossing his arms. 

  “I think we should talk about sex. I mean, like, how to do it.” The words are out quick, and Lance’s cheeks only turn redder, and he shrinks a bit on himself, still avoiding eye contact. Keith's eyes widen a little, and he can't help it as he chuckles, mostly feeling relieved. Lance scowls, thinking he's being laughed at. “Hey, don't laugh at me for-”

  “No, no, Lance,” He cups his face turning it towards him so he can look Lance in the eyes. “I was scared you were about to break up with me or something-” Lance gasps, shocked by that, because he'd never do something like that, and Keith just smiles and shakes his head. “Sorry. But serious talks kind scare me. But…I mean, we can talk about this. Yeah.” He gently strokes his cheeks before kissing him. “What, uh, what are you stuck on?” He asks as they both take a seat on the couch. 

  Lance runs a hand through his hair. “Look, I'll be honest, Keith. I don't actually know how two dudes get it on, okay? I tried watching porn, but it- it wasn't exactly helpful.”

  “Well of course it wasn't,” Keith says with an amused chuckle, and Lance sighs, giving him a dirty look. “Sorry. But okay, that's fine, I mean… you've only slept with women. So that's what you're used to.”

  “I'm just, you know, trying to figure out how it  _ really  _ works,” He tries to explain, looking a bit helpless. “In the video it looked like they just went for it, you know?” Keith nods a bit. 

  “Okay. Yeah, well, forget whatever you saw, because chances are it was dead wrong.” He smiles a little and moves closer. Keith wasn't an especially sexual man, and his own knowledge was limited to the few times he  _ did _ have sex, but he'd learned quite a lot those times. “First- hey, look at me,” He requests when Lance kind of looks away. Lance turns to look at him, still looking embarrassed, and even nervous now. He smiles a little and kisses him, just trying to relax him a little. When Lance goes a little less rigid, Keith pulls back. “First, let's just establish that you're gonna stick to where you're best acquainted. Top.”

  “Fair enough,” Lance says with a nod and a little smile. Keith nods and leans against him, putting his head on his shoulder, trying to figure out the best way to explain this to him without sounding like a sex ed teacher or something. Then it hits him, and he's not sure why it took so damn long to realize it. 

  “...get up,” He requests quietly, patting Lance's thigh and standing up. A bit confused, Lance stands up, and Keith takes his hand, leading him to his room. Lance realizes about halfway down the hall what exactly they're about to do, and he has to take a breath to calm himself down. This is…actually very literally the first time he's ever been nervous to have sex. 

  Keith nudges him up against the side of the bed, kissing him, silently urging Lance to kiss him back. Lance does, trying to slip into the mood. It doesn't take very long, and eventually he moves his hands to Keith's waist, pulling him close, kissing him with a bit more urgency. Keith hums quietly, pushing him back onto the bed and getting on top of him, straddling his hips as he kisses him again, appreciating the low groan that comes from Lance as he ever so gently grinds down against him.

  When Keith slides his hands up Lance's shirt, running his hands across his chest like he's been dreaming of doing since he was a teenager, Lance inhales sharply. He'd been touched like this more times than he could count, but when it was Keith, it all felt brand new. He lets Keith get his shirt off, then grins when he sits back to shrug off his sweater and toss it to the floor, then removing his thin t-shirt.  _ Beautiful _ , is all Lance can think.  _ He's goddamn beautiful and I waited this long to realize it.  _

  Keith bites his lip, looking a bit nervous for the first time that night. Lance sits up, keeping Keith in his lap. He kisses him quickly. “Don't you get nervous too, dude, you're supposed to be showing me what to do,” He whispers teasingly, and Keith laughs, cupping his face and kissing him. 

  “I know, I know, sorry,” He whispers against his lips, pulling back a little. “You dream about something for so long, it gets a little overwhelming when it's actually happening.”

  “Trust me, I know,” Lance murmurs, smiling slightly, sliding his hands down to squeeze Keith's ass, making the other man gasp quietly. That makes Lance laugh a little, nuzzling him a little bit. “Let's get out of these, huh?” He whispers, and Keith nods, smiling a little and pushing him back again. 

  He steps back onto the floor, then puts his hands on his hips. He gestures to Lance’s skinny jeans before he fusses with the button a bit, tugging them down with a bit of struggle. “Tip. Invest in looser jeans,” He tells him with a smirk as he finally gets them off, followed by his own shorts. Lance is laughing as Keith takes his place back on Lance’s lap. 

  “Duly noted,” He says with a quiet chuckle as he holds Keith close. Keith is about to give him a little Eskimo kiss, but he's stopped short when Lance gets Keith on his back in one swift movement. Keith looks up at him, eyes a bit wide, but a smile on his lips. 

  His heart was starting to pound a little bit harder, because he was… he was about to have sex with the love of his life for the first time. After thinking it and dreaming it for so long, here Lance was, on top of him and kissing him, ready to do it with him too. For a moment he's overwhelmed, but it passes quickly when Lance reaches a hand between Keith's legs and slips a hand into his boxers, taking ahold of his already hard cock. Keith wasn't exactly embarrassed that he was already totally ready. This was absolutely thrilling to him, he can't help it. Keith gasps when he feels Lance's hand on him. 

  “Oh- Oh, Lance,” he moans quietly, just a little bit caught up in the slow strokes before he remembers. “Wait! Wait, hold on, I just remembered-” He gasps, and Lance quickly stops, his eyes wide. 

  “What? What's wrong?” He asks, looking a bit frantic. Keith just laughs, a bit breathy.

  “Something absolutely essential is- is lube. I have some- God, that's important,” He whispers, running a hand through his hair. Lance sighs, relieved, and smiles weakly at Keith. 

  “Don't scare me like that,” He whispers. “Where is it?” He asks quietly, and Keith gestures to the nightstand. 

  “Get a condom while you're in there. I'd kinda prepared for this a couple weeks ago,” He mumbles, a bit embarrassed. Lance just nods, smiling and king his cheek before he gets the requested items from Keith's nightstand.

  “Hey!” He exclaims with a big smile as he looks at the box of condoms. “You got the right size!”

  “I was estimating based on when we woke up with your morning wood pressing against my thigh a couple weeks ago,” He says with a grin, nudging him. Lance’s smile turns to a scowl, and Keith laughs out loud. 

  “Won't be laughing once it's in you,” He assures him, poking his cheek. Keith grins. 

  “Try me,” He says, trying to sound all sexy, but he's still chuckling, so it doesn't work that great. He gets a laugh out of Lance, though, so he counts it as a win. He slowly slides his boxers off, feeling like the mood has lightened enough for him to not feel so embarrassed and nervous about it. The laughter helped. Lance bites his lip and follows suit, sort of smiling at the way Keith's eyes widen a bit, his pale cheeks flushing red. Lance was…certainly very nice in the downstairs department, Keith thought.

  “You're adorable,” Lance whispers as he nudges his way between Keith's legs, making the other man shiver a bit. Keith just smiles and shakes his head. 

  “Hush.” He gives him a quick, soft kiss. “Okay, this, um…next step, I guess, isn't exactly always necessary, but, um…I'm not big on it hurting a whole lot, so…” He grabs the lube and takes Lance's hand, putting the bottle in it. “Lube up your fingers.” Lance get a bit of a sad look on his face. 

  “Just my fingers? Aw, dude, I thought we were having sex, not just getting to third base-”

  “God damnit Lance,” Keith says with an exasperated laugh, shaking his head. “It's preparation. Your fingers sort of...work me up to taking something…bigger.”

  Lance processes this, then grins, nodding slowly. “Yeah, something bigger. My dick,” He murmurs, still grinning. “That makes so much sense, man.”

  “Shut up,” Keith mutters, snacking his arm gently. “Start with one, work up to…three, I'm thinking.” He spreads his legs a bit wider, closes his eyes, and takes ahold of Lance's shoulders, lowkey mentally preparing himself. Lance's smile fades a bit, a look of concentration replacing it as he gets his fingers slick. Carefully, he slides his index finger inside of Keith, hoping he's doing it right. 

  When Keith bites his lip, a look of pleasure gracing his features for just a moment, Lange figures he must be doing something right. Keith nods a bit, confirming Lance's silent suspicions. “That right?” Lance asks, slowly moving his finger in, then out. Keith gives him another quick nod. 

  “Mhm,” He hums quietly, pulling Lance down to kiss him softly. Lance waits a moment or two before almost hesitantly slipping his next finger into him beside his first. Keith just moans quietly, kissing him again.

  All of Keith's noises, the way he's kissing him, the way Keith feels around his finger, and the thought of being inside him is enough to get Lance totally ready to go. Keith doesn't give him too much direction, letting him kind of figure things out on his own. Lance kind of appreciates it, because he's learning a bit about Keith's body in the process. 

  Once he's fit his third finger in, Keith whimpers quietly, his body starting to tremble a little under Lance. “Fuck,” He whispers, squeezing his shoulders. “Lance, babe- I'm ready, it's okay.” He's been ready since they were young, and even though he was damn nervous, he was excited more than anything. He was about to do this with Lance. Holy shit. 

  Lance nods a bit and gets the condom on quickly, assuming he has to lube himself up too, and does so before selling between Keith's legs, positioning himself properly at Keith's opening. “Are you…are you sure about this? I mean, I'm doing everything right?” He asks quietly, looking worried, and Keith nods quickly. 

  “Yeah, Lance, don't worry,” He whispers with a quiet chuckle. “...I'm sure about this if you are.” He slides his hands up to cup Lance's face, and he gently runs his thumbs across his cheeks, looking into his eyes. Lance gives him a little smile and nods slightly.

  Then, with a bit more effort than he's used to, he pushes into Keith. Keith inhales sharply, wincing a bit, making Lance pause immediately. “Are you-?”

  “I'm okay,” He assures him, kissing him quickly, lowkey unable to believe he's got Lance inside of him right now. “Please, um-”

  “Oh, right,” Lance bites his lip in concentration and finishes sliding all the way into Keith, a bit amazed at how tight he was. It…yeah, it was different than being with a woman, he had to admit. But it was Keith, and it was  _ absolutely fucking perfect,  _ and something he'd thought of and dreamed of for quite a while. It was exhilarating for the both of them to finally be this close to each other, to be connected like this. 

  Keith quietly asks for a moment to get used to it before he nods slightly, looking into Lance's eyes, silently saying it was okay to start moving. Lance takes it slow at first, nuzzling into Keith's neck, trying not to cum right away from how great Keith felt around him. Keith appreciated that Lance was moving slowly; it allowed him to feel Lance more. To feel every little jump of his pulse, to feel the way he breathed against his neck, to feel how desperately he was wanted and loved, just by the way Lance moved his hips. Keith slides a hand up into Lance's hair, gripping gently as he's built up, brick by pleasurable brick. 

  It's a definite bonus when Lance takes initiative and takes Keith's cock in his hands again, smirking a bit as his kisses him quickly. “This right?” He asks quietly, his voice trembling a bit. Keith can't help but laugh a little, breathy. 

  “Oh, God, yes, it's so right,” He moans, kissing Lance hard as Lance starts moving his hand, wanting get Keith off first, because he knew he was just a few slow thrusts away from cumming. Lance is lucky, because it doesn't take Keith very long at all to be cumming under Lance's touch, getting it mostly all over Lance's hand. The way Keith’s body tenses and relaxes is enough to make Lance jolt a bit, gasping as he thrusts deep inside of Keith and cums, kissing him hard and moaning against his lips. He's happy when Keith grips his hair tighter, kissing him back just as feverishly. 

  Lance moves his hips slowly as they both ride through their orgasms, and once they both stop trembling and when both of their breathing has returned somewhat to normal, Lance pulls back, gives him a soft smile, and pulls out of him. Keith sighs quietly, biting his lip for a moment. Once Lance gets rid of the condom, wipes his hand off, and settles beside Keith in bed, pulling him close and kissing his forehead, he sighs. “So…”

  Keith smiles a bit, resting against his chest and closing his eyes. “So,” He whispers back, and Lance smiles a bit. 

  “So how'd I do? Good for my first time?” He asks, and Keith laughs. 

  “Yes, Lance, you did spectacularly,” He says through his laughter, kissing his throat, loving the way he can feel Lance laugh beneath his lips. “Seriously, though,” He murmurs, leaning back enough to look at him. “That was…just as good as I'd imagined it'd be.”

  Lance nods in agreement. “It really was,” He agrees, smiling a little. He gently strokes his slightly sweaty hair back, kissing his forehead again. “...I love you so much,” He whispers, hugging him close. 

  Keith just relaxes against him, smiling softly as he closes his eyes again. “I love you too, Lance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> literally this whole chapter was porn and idk if I'm sorry or not. I thought about making it more filthy but imo their first time together would probs be really sweet so I went more in that direction.


	10. Chapter 10

The champagne bottle was opened with a loud pop and a thunk of the cork as it hit the floor, laughter all around the room as Keith started pouring it into glasses. Lance gives him a big kiss when Keith makes his way back to him. Keith can't stop grinning, as he's been doing all night. And he had every right to. The first editions of his book had just hit shelves, and he'd been sent the first book printed. And here he was, around all his friends, just smiling and celebrating. 

  “They look fantastic, Keith,” Shiro comments ad he's flipping through the pages of his and Allura’s copy. “You- ah, our wedding photos. You did such a great job.” His voice drops to a whisper, and Allura tears up a bit. 

  “They're beautiful. They're all so beautiful, every single photo in the book,” She says, smiling and wiping her eyes. Keith just chuckles and sits down next to Lance. 

  “I made sure to pick the ones that made you guys cry,” Keith teases, winking at the two of them with a smirk. Lance rolls his eyes and shakes his head fondly. 

  “Of course you did,” He whispers as he takes Keith's hand. Keith brings it to his lips and kisses it before chuckling. 

  “Honestly, I've only heard good reviews from my colleagues,” Ben says casually as he sips at his champagne. “You really brought feelings out of people with your pictures, Keith. You did amazingly for your first collection.”

  Keith can't help but blush, and Pidge laughs. “Come on, man!” She leans over and gently punches his arm. “Give yourself some credit! This is huge! Not only was it published in general, but people love it!”

  Hunk nods quickly. “Honestly, that one you took of Pidge and I in our kitchen? I loved that one.” Pidge nods in agreement, resting her head on his shoulder. Ben sits up a bit straighter. 

  “And that one of Lance and I at the bar? Didn't even know you took that one at the time,” He mentions, and Lance just smiles. 

  “I liked that one too,” He says, looking at Keith. Keith just can't keep the smile off his face, hearing all these nice things. Coran, who'd been quiet as he sat next to his niece and her husband, speaks up. 

  “My personal favorite,” He begins. “Was the one you took of the wedding party, at the very end. All of us were in it, and…there was so much raw emotion in one picture. Smiles, tears, sadness, happiness…you really did a good thing.” He puts an arm around Allura. “You did a fantastic job, Keith.”

  Everyone's gone a bit quiet, nodding in agreement, and that's when Keith years up. “Guys, I- I seriously can't thank you enough for helping me through this, and- and putting up with me and all that shit.” He sniffs and wipes his eyes. “You’re all the best friends I could've asked for.”

  Lance puts his arm around him and rubs his shoulder. “Well,” He whispers, smiling a little. “I don't know if it'll make you feel better or not, but I have a gift for you. A big one.” He kisses Keith’s temple before standing up. He finds Keith’s camera and hands it to Pidge. Keith wipes his eyes, looking bewildered. 

  “Why are you giving her my camera?” he asks quietly, confused. Pidge smiles cheerfully and turns it on, looking through it and adjusting it correctly. Lance, meanwhile, walks out of the room, and returns a moment later. 

  “Because you can't take pictures of your own proposal, can you?” Lance asks casually, and Keith looks even more confused. 

  “Proposal? What do you mean, I'm not proposing to any-” He stops talking immediately when Lance gets down on one knee. His eyes widen a bit, and he hardly notices that Pidge has started taking pictures. The room is quiet, making the pounding of Keith’s heart seem infinitely louder. “Lance…”

  “Keith. I wanted to save this for a really important moment. And, uh, I've been waiting almost a year of being with you for this Goddamn moment.” He laughs nervously, and someone sniffles behind him, he can't tell who. He's too fixated on Keith, who's still wide eyed and silent. “It took me half my life to realize that I didn't wanna be with anyone with you, and I feel like a total asshole for putting us both through that hell for so long-”

  “Lance-” Keith chokes out, smiling, tears slipping down his cheeks. “Lance, what are you-?”

  Lance shakes his head, sniffling a bit, blinking back tears. He puts on a big smile, holds out the ring box, and opens it to reveal a simple silver band with only a few small diamonds placed in it. Keith can't help but let out a sob, covering his mouth with his hand. Lance takes a deep breath. “Keith, will you marry me?” Lance asks quietly, and it feels like it's just them in the room, both of them focused purely on each other. 

  Keith moves his hand, taking a shaky breath and nodding, knowing this is the happiest he's ever fucking been. The last year of his life, this time he's spent together being with Lance, was the happiest year of his life. Before, the idea of being with Lance seemed like nothing but a distant, far away dream. Never did he imagine that marrying Lance would become a reality at all. But here Lance was, on one knee, holding out a ring and asking Keith to marry him. “Yes, Lance,” He musters, and Lance lets out a wet laugh and a cry as he shakily slides the ring on Keith's finger. They just look each other for a moment, taking each other in, before Keith pulls him in close and kisses him. The room is filled with cheers and applause, and Pidge is sure to get every little moment of their engagement. Lance had told her ahead of time what to do, and she diligently followed through. 

  The excitement eventually dies down, and everyone just settles on talking and laughing and crying and… it's just an emotional night. As everyone says their goodbyes, gives their congratulations, and makes their way out, Keith can finally process what just happened. He closes the door, then leans against it. 

  “You fucker,” He whispers, and Lance raises an eyebrow as he finishes off the champagne.

  “What?” He asks quietly, a bit confused. Keith just looks at him before smiling. 

  “You proposed to me. You want to marry me, and you asked tonight, of all nights, in front of all our friends.” He whispers, shaking his head and going over to sit beside him, sighing quietly. Lance nods slightly. 

  “I know. I was there,” He says with a smile. “I uh… I was serious about waiting for the right moment. I mean. We've been together a year now. And I know we were supposed to focus on your book tonight, but…I just couldn't wait,” Lance explains, taking Keith's hand, squeezing gently. 

  Keith nods slowly, pursing his lips a bit. He looks at the ring on his finger, and he smiles a little. “That's okay. I've been waiting quite a while for this, and…it feels really good to finally have a ring on it.”

  Lance laughs and pulls Keith into his lap, kissing him. “It feels really good to finally put a ring on it. I really liked it, after all.” Keith groans to suppress a laugh, making Keith laugh even harder. “Keith- Being serious, Keith, I love you.” His laughter dies down, and Keith smiles a little, cupping his face. 

  “I love you too. Being serious.” He kisses him softly, and Lance just holds him close, sighing contentedly against his lips. In this moment, there's truly nowhere Lance would rather be.

  Happy, in love, and marrying the love of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is kind of my wrap up chapter, which is why it's kinda short. if it's asked for enough I might write a kind of sequel/true ending of it, but as of now I'm kinda pleased with where I ended it. there is something else I'm gonna be working on so :~) keep an eye out for that. 
> 
> but thank you all for reading it and keeping up with it!! I'm glad so many people liked it!!! thank u!


	11. epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just a little epilogue i figured this fic deserved. it's not long, but i think it's pretty sweet.

 

*********

_ ~EPILOGUE~ _

_ ********* _

 

  Lance massages Keith’s shoulders sleepily, smiling a little bit. It was nearly three in the morning, and they finally had some time to relax. Keith’s head starts bobbing a bit as he lowkeyy starts dozing off. Lance chuckles a bit. “Keith?” He murmurs, squezing Keith’s shoulders. 

  Keith quickly pulls his head up, shaking it a bit. “Shit, sorry,” He whispers, rubbing his eyes. Lance moves to sit in front of Keith. He presses a kiss to his forehead.

  “Don’t be,” He murmurs, smiling a bit and stroking his cheek. “It’s late, we haven’t been getting any sleep...it’s fine,” He whispers, gently laying Keith down. Keith looks at him before he sits right back up.

  “What if-?”

  Immediately cutting him off, Lance holds up a hand, pushing him back down. “I’ve got it. You deserve the sleep, and you’ve been getting up every single time. Please, go to sleep,” He urges, and Keith just sighs.

  “Alright, alright,” He murmurs before closing his eyes. Almost immediately, he’s passed out. And right after that, as if on cue, their daughter starts crying. 

  Lance sighs, runs a hand through his hair, and walks out of their room into the spare-room-turned-nursery. He turns on the little lamp in the corner, keeping it on its lowest setting, and walks over to the crib. He gently picks up the baby- she wasn’t even a month old yet -and holds her close. He coos as he walks out and heads into the kitchen. She was probably hungry, since she hadn’t been fed in a few hours. With one hand, he gets a bottle made and warmed up. He then heads back into the nursery and sits down in the rocking chair they had in there. She takes the bottle immediately, and Lance hums. “Thought so,” He whispers with a little smile.

  He and Keith were married for two years before they sat down and had the whole ‘baby’ talk. They discussed options, and ultimately decided on hiring a surrogate. They’d saved up for another year, and finally had enough to pay for it. Lance was the biological dad, and he lowkey cried when Keith said he was okay with it. They’d named her Carmen, and honestly, they thought she was the most perfect thing ever. When they’d told all their friends she was on the way, they’d all shown up to the hospital to wait to meet her. She was the first baby to be born among the group, but Allura would be quick to follow; she only had a couple more months to go before her’s and Shiro’s son would be here.

  Lance couldn’t really believe it. Five years ago, he was just starting to date Keith. They were just discovering what exactly it was like to be in a realtionship. Now, they were married, had celebrated three anniversaries, and had a daughter. It was crazy to think about, really. But he was happy. More happy than he’s ever been. He could only imagine what the future held for him and his husband and, fuck, their  _ daughter _ . Their gorgeous daughter.

  He’s just quietly rocking in the chair, feeding Carmen, when Keith walks in, blocking the dim light a little bit. Despite being out in only a few seconds, he’d woken up out of paranoia just a few minutes later. “Is she okay?” He asks quietly, and Lance sighs a bit, smiling slightly.

  “She’s fine, Keith,” He whispers, looking up at him. “You know, my sister said she’d be willing to visit to help us out. Let us sleep for a while. She’s had three kids, she knows what being a first time parent is like.”

  Keith shrugs a little bit, sitting down on the floor in front of the chair, just kind of looking up at them. “I think that’d be nice. At least until she’s started sleeping through the night, you know?” He yawns, and Lance nods a little.

  “Yeah,” He murmurs. Then, he smiles a bit. “You know we’ll miss this in eighteen years when she’s grown up and leaving the house,” Lance says quietly, smirking at his husband. Keith gasps and smacks his leg.

  “Don’t say that! She was just barely born!” He hisses, making Lance laugh, which disturbs little Carmen, who whines a bit at the noise.

  “Sorry, baby, sorry,” He murmurs to both of them, still kind of chuckling. Keith rolls his eyes, smiling fondly.

  “...I love you, Lance,” He whispers, resting his head on Lance’s knee. “I love you so much, and...God, I never imagined, back when we were sixteen years old, that I’d be sitting here on the floor of our baby’s nursey, sleep deprived and about to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. That’s fucking insane, Lance,” He whispers, looking up at his husband,

  Lance grins and nods in agreement. “I’ll admit, it’s crazy. I never imagined I’d be here either. But…” He sighs. “I wouldn’t want to be here with anyone else.”

  Keith smiles a bit and closes his eyes, nodding a little bit. “Me neither…”

 

*****

_ ~End~ _

*****


End file.
